Ex-Pope blames society for pedophiles saying it was ‘normal’ until the 1980s
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The ex-Pope Benedict, now known as Pope Emeritus since retirement, has spoken out in defense of the epidemic of pedophile priests within the Catholic Church to say that raping children used to be “acceptable” up until the 1980s.
The former head of the Vatican made the shocking comments when asked about the church’s responsibility regarding their child sex abuse scandals.
He stated that the justification for pedophile priests being largely ignored or protected by the Catholic Church was due to a broader social context.
90-year-old Benedict, real name Joseph Ratzinger, said that whilst the church accepted some responsibility for the sexual abuse of children, he could not be silent about ”the context of these times…. There is a market in child pornography that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society.
“Ratzinger went on to claim that up until the 1980s, “pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children.
“The former pontiff went on to say that in this climate, the Catholic Church’s actions were merely reflecting the moral relativism of the times:
“It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself,” he said.
That is, church leaders weren’t sure if child sexual abuse was wrong since secular society seemed to accept it.
According to Life Science, the pope’s statement is actually a logical fallacy with the Latin name of “tu quoque,” roughly translated as “you, also,” or “you’re another.
“It’s a version of a defense heard on schoolyards around the world when a child is caught doing something bad: “Well, he did it too!” This “everyone’s doing it” fallacy is often invoked by tax evaders and speeders.
One person’s illegal or immoral act cannot be used to justify the same act by another person; it just doesn’t work that way.Pope Benedict is simply wrong when he claims that child sexual abuse and pornography were socially acceptable in the 1970s and 1980s when the bulk of sexual abuse occurred.
Even if it were true, there’s little reason to think that pedophile priests would be especially susceptible to perceived secular moral decay.
The Pope’s acknowledgment, that Catholic priests do not have the wisdom nor the moral compass to realize that raping children is wrong or harmful, is a remarkable admission, and hardly comforting.
This is not the first time that Pope Benedict has assigned blame to others for social evils.
For example in September during a visit to Britain, he blamed atheism for Nazi atrocities, ignoring the widespread complicity of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust (and Adolf Hitler’s vehement attacks on atheism).Around the same time, Benedict also blamed atheists for environmental destruction and global warming.
Barbara Blaine, president of the American victims’ group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, dismissed Benedict’s attempt to have 1970s culture share the blame for pedophile priests.
“It is fundamentally disturbing to watch a brilliant man so conveniently misdiagnose a horrific scandal,” Blaine said in a statement.
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