so what's the excuse for the cover up?

Because the church would rather protect itself rather than innocent kids. Disgusting and gutless behaviour all in the name of a mythical being.

There was a Catholic document that was finally released a couple of years ago. It was written in the 60s if memory serves. The churches were told directly by the vatican not to disclose this information. They simply didn't want the bad press. Do a google search and you can see this document for yourself, it even says something about if the victim goes to the police they will be kicked out of the church.

They did try sending pedophiles to a priest camp in another country run by the Catholic church. The priest running this camp flat out told the vatican there is no cure here, there is no rehabilitation. The vatican ignored this and just put the priests back into new churches.

They are paying the price now, Certain churches are going bankrupt over paying off lawsuits and legal fees. The vatican isn't helping them either. They have billions in cash and assets but they are allowing the local churches to file bankruptcy anyway.

Realllllly moral group there.

Evil is, as evil does.God never mandated celibacy for His priests. Consider that Aaron had sons and that didn't stop him from being God's high priest to Israel. The RCC rarely follows the Bible in anything, so the conduct of its clergy shouldn't be too surprising. The lax prosecution of the offenders by the civil authorities is quite another matter however.

They are more concerned with the image of the church than the well being of the molested children.

As a Christian, there is no excuse. They should be turned over. Jesus cares very deeply for children and all man-kind. These people are not from God.

While each case of abuse in the Church is different there should not be any doubt that their decision to ignore or cover up was largely motivated by financial reasons which makes it even worst.....

I think the Catholics who answer here are saying, don't blame them for what the some of the priests may do.' It would be similar to blaming all Christians for the mistakes televangelists have done in the scandals of a few years ago. Most of us are God honoring Christians. We can't control what the hierarchy does and neither can the Catholics.

I don't condemn anyone. You all deserve complete bliss.

But when you claim infallibility in connection with faith and morals while enabling such crimes against humanity, you lose any such claim of authority.

That's all I'm saying. I forgive you. I think for myself.

What's the problem?

Take care not to judge others. That's all you need to know, really.

It's wrong that the church tried covering it up...there is no excuse for that.

They were homos