Benedict leaves German homeland with complicated legacy

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys.

And this is just Germany. How does any religious organisation, preaching morality and compassion, square this systematic abuse with its own right to continue in existence? The Catholic church literally pontificates about the dangers of evil and about leading a good life and then is responsible for ruining lives from a young age. The pope and bishops should be publicly asking for forgiveness every single day and paying enormous compensation for all the pain it has caused across its history.

"Decades of abuse...?" ...more like centuries! It has only been in the past few decades that speaking out against abuse has been acceptable, but many who have protested against the papacy have themselves been vilified and persecuted.

The abused often turn into abusers and this is the true legacy of Catholicism.

The legacy of Catholicism has ruined lives from state-sponsored schools, the Inquisition, which instilled terror into every European town and city and which included church-sponsored torture during the Dark Ages, the Crusades, and hundreds of lesser wars all started in the name of religion. Not to mention sexual assault on young church members to an extent that still has not been fully realized by Catholic priests and officers within their own Church society. Call it a religion or call it a cult. It's all the same thing.

MoonrakerToday  07:10 am JST

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys.

And this is just Germany. How does any religious organisation, preaching morality and compassion, square this systematic abuse with its own right to continue in existence? The Catholic church literally pontificates about the dangers of evil and about leading a good life and then is responsible for ruining lives from a young age. The pope and bishops should be publicly asking for forgiveness every single day and paying enormous compensation for all the pain it has caused across its history.

It's in all churches, religions, public and private schools, daycare centers, Scout programs, military, every institution. Even some families. Recently abuses in the Southern Baptist Church have come to light, Same for LDS.

> DanielsanToday  09:51 am JST

"Decades of abuse...?" ...more like centuries! It has only been in the past few decades that speaking out against abuse has been acceptable, but many who have protested against the papacy have themselves been vilified and persecuted.

The abused often turn into abusers and this is the true legacy of Catholicism.

Rape victims often are vilified and/or ignored. It's a society problem, not just churches. The US military really has a major problem with sex assault and covering it up through abuse of authority.

lordoflysToday  10:40 am JST

The legacy of Catholicism has ruined lives from state-sponsored schools, the Inquisition, which instilled terror into every European town and city and which included church-sponsored torture during the Dark Ages, the Crusades, and hundreds of lesser wars all started in the name of religion.

The Dark Ages were horrible in every way, through fear, ignorance and superstition. Inquisitions were often political institutions, esp. in Spain and Portugal and their New World colonies. Torture was rampant in Europe and elsewhere in those days. Protestant churches had their inquisitions and witch hunts too. Look at Salem, Massachusetts Bay colony for an example. There were persecutions against Jews and Muslims too. The 'Crusades' were an Unchristian exercise of wars for greed. The Crusaders were so easy to kill the Ottoman Turks they took it out on Christian communities as well, not to mention the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. Those 'holy wars' were all about greed more than anything else. They wanted those goodies from India and Imperial China so badly but didn't like dealing with Muslim traders. But these ugly acts do not conform with the scriptures or its ideals.

And those 'jihads' of today are not 'Muslim' in any fashion either. A 'holy war' is an oxymoron, started by fanatical morons.

The comments supersedes the article itself

What were the main theological answers given by Benedict? What were his main failures? Was he considered to be a good pope or a bad one?

He was a member of the Hitler Youth, and he fought against the allied forces trying to liberate Europe from Hitler. He was an adult when the war ended. I do not remember ever reading anything wherein he renounced his earlier actions. Is this really the credentials we want for God's representative on Earth?

I thought the best thing he ever did was resign, unlike Pius, who actively worked against the Nazis during World War II.

Its examination of decades of abuse cases faulted their handling by a string of church officials past and present, including the then-Cardinal Ratzinger in four cases.

He actually disrupted investigations and protected known child sex offenders. Most "ordinary" people would have been facing serious charges.

1glennJan. 3  09:55 pm JST

He was a member of the Hitler Youth, and he fought against the allied forces trying to liberate Europe from Hitler. He was an adult when the war ended. I do not remember ever reading anything wherein he renounced his earlier actions. Is this really the credentials we want for God's representative on Earth?

In those days everybody had to be in the Hitler Youth, all of the boys and girls. It was mandatory. Such is as it is with totalitarian nations from Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, Metaxas' Greece, the 'Young Pioneers' of the USSR, the youth of Burma/Myanmar of today and of course the CCP and elsewhere. Trump wanted such 'patriotic' bullcrap for America too. It's indoctrination of the youth to OBEY the evil rotten totalitarian regime.

And of course he was drafted into the Nazi army, that too was mandatory for all men. But Benedict was never a Nazi, and he never even handled weaponry. He was captured as a POW during the war. Fascism makes its citizens do what they don't want to do. Look at Putin's Russia and his recent draft and the reactions to it and see that as an example.

Starpunk....

And of course he was drafted into the Nazi army, that too was mandatory for all men. But Benedict was never a Nazi, and he never even handled weaponry. He was captured as a POW during the war.

There are many documented cases of Germans refusing to join both Hitler youth and the military. Benedict chose to obey the Nazi commands NOT to stand up against them. Never handled weaponry? Nonsense, he completed basic training and was part of an anti aircraft gunnery.

He gave himself up to allied soldiers right at the end of the war, when the end was obvious to see.