The Role Of Sexual Abuse In The Catholic Church

Improved Essays
Vatican is not doing enough to stop the sexual abuse happening inside the Catholic Church, according to Italian author Emiliano Fittipaldi.
In an upcoming book titled “Lussuria” (Lust), Fittipaldi features cites court documents and interviews with priests and judicial officials to paint a picture of Pope Francis’ first three years of papacy. The author says the pontiff has done “close to nothing” to address the sexual abuse cases that has tainted the Catholic Church’s image, The Guardian details.
“The principle message of the book – the problem – is that the phenomenon of paedophilia is not being fought with sufficient force. Across the world, the church continues to protect the privacy of the paedophiles and also the cardinals [who protect

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Article On Repressed Memory According to Zezima & Carey (2009), Paul R. Shanley was convicted in 2005 of the rape and assault of a six-year-old boy while serving as a priest in Boston. This case is interesting in several aspects, for one, the conviction hinged on the testimony of an individual who was 32 years of age at the time of his testimony. Zezima & Carey further assert that Mr. Shanley was a street priest who worked with troubled youth and also previously criticized the Catholic Church’s view on homosexuality. Mr. Shanley was accused by numerous people however, the victim indicated that he had no memory of the abuse until the year 2002 when he was 25 years old and an acquaintance showed him an article on sexual abuse of priests which…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He wants to know why is the pope speaking out against the truth? Why is the pope greedy for money? Why is the pope higher than the bishop? Why wouldn’t the pope do anything about this situation that is going on? Why isn’t the church honouring God?…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    King even deems this the turning point for the church if they were not to act, then the church would slowly fail; ‘if the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century’. Nowadays this is true since the church has not followed its moral obligation and is on the…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Keeping in mind the end goal to completely comprehend the present influx of sex guilty party enactment in the United States, it is essential we investigate the inception and advancement of these laws and inspect the impacts that made the present structure of sex wrongdoer enactment. The impacts and powers driving current sex wrongdoer enactment is not only a result of any single occasion in history or any single compel in our way of life. The present significance of sex guilty party laws in our nation is a Aftereffect of various impacts, both later and antiquated, and on occasion, of apparently opposing sources, for example, religious and nonreligious impacts like social Darwinism. Sex wrongdoing laws have existed as far back as scriptural…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Smyth’s ‘The land of the pirates - clerical culture and sexual abuse’ (Smyth, 2009) discusses the structure and culture of the Catholic Church, which, Smyth believes, has led to the proliferation and protection of ‘paedophile priests’ (Smyth, 2009) within its institution. Smyth likens the institutionalised Church to a ‘land of pirates’ which we ‘have a duty to visit’ if we are to understand the ‘climate that raises pirates’ (Smyth, 2009). In making this assertion Smyth suggests that the culture of the clergy and its hierarchy must be examined to understand the factors that have fostered opportunities for abusive priests to operate unchecked, unhindered and unpunished. Smyth’s examination of the Church indicates his three main concerns; The…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Most of those aware of what is happening in the Church know that Australian Catholicism is in trouble and when people focus on this most think of sexual abuse. The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia is part of the much wider Catholic sexual abuse scandals which are a series of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders. In August 2011, according to Broken Rites, a support and advocacy group for church-related sex abuse victims, there have been over 100 cases in Australia where Catholic priests have been charged for sex offences against minors, as well as others involving non-custodial sentences and inconclusive proceedings. There are…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Where should the line be drawn between remaining loyal to the church and the justice that deserves to be served to prominent church figures committing wrongdoings? These problems arise because The Roman Catholic Church possesses a great role in society and power in Boston, inhibiting justice. Victims are afraid of coming forward because of this idea that going against the church means to go against God; the same applies to church members—there is respect that is felt towards the church causing people to fear going against it and to harbor the desire to protect its image. This scandal sheds light on how the Roman Catholic Church in Boston has too much power, which ironically harms the people more than helping them, indicated by the church’s abuse of…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Flawed characters often more memorable than the moral lessons which we learn as readers and audiences. This is because we can relate more to them as the imperfections/flaws of the characters often mirror our own. Characters can be unlikeable and still be interesting, and it is their flaws, which often are born out of some defect, that make them interesting. In the Songs of innocence and Experience Blake comments on the flaws in society like the flaw in religious institutions such as the church, the mistreatment of children and the flaw in parents etc. Whereas, in ‘Tis’ Pity She’s a Whore’ by John Ford there are plenty of flawed characters, as is often a typical convention of a revenge tragedy.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners has over the years caught the attention of the public as being extremely immoral. In fact, in the eighties, the novel was on the verge of being banned from all schools in Ontario for being “degrading, dehumanizing”, according to one parent. It is undeniable that this novel does contain severely immoral acts like adultery, cheating, and un-marital sex – all acts that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of religion. In the eyes of parents, it is therefore unacceptable to expose children to this novel. Though understandable, Laurence uses immorality as a means to convey her themes, identity development being the main one.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ou don’t thats disrespecting god and also disrespecting everything about the Catholic church. The reason the human body is of such importance is that it is the eternal temple of God, a part of the great incarnation of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The goal of our salvation is to have our body resurrected into eternal life and filled with the Presence of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. God is a Spirit. God chose to express Himself, to reveal Himself, in a physical form.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While media’s main purpose is to merely inform the public, it often ends up affecting public opinion. This is the case with immigration and religion. When religious immigrants are portrayed in media as a certain way, society often creates prejudices and stereotypes. These stereotypes—whether they seem positive or negative—will have an overall negative impact on the lives of the immigrant and religious groups involved. When media portrays immigrants with differences from the majority of the public, a division is formed as “desirable” versus “undesirable” immigrant groups and this further reinforces stereotyping, especially against “undesirable” immigrants .…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The response to Vatican II and the changes the council implemented divided the laity. Although Vatican II promoted an inclusive society that aimed for secularism there was still a decrease in the number of priests and religious people following Vatican II. Many people found it hard to acknowledge the changes the council implemented and the validity of these changes. Even despite the promises of the second Vatican council to bring up to date the church in the modern world Pope Pius VI still published his encyclical Casti Connbii which stated that “Any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against God and of nature, and those who indulge…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Pedophilia, a word that anybody thinks badly of when heard. People with pedophilia are seen as crooks rather than an ordinary person who has a mental illness. Pedophiles should be in mental health facilities rather than in stripped of their privileges when they come out to the world and ask for help. The article “Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime,” written by Margo Kaplan, expresses these horrible incidences that these people face while struggling with pedophilia. The article expresses ideas that are common to agree with, but there are some skeptical ideas presented and some that are even untrusting.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Spotlight – Sociologial Theories 1 “When the Boston Globe’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delves into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover up at the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world” (Road, n.d.). Spotlight is a movie based on real-life events that occurred in 2001and it shows the viewers the obstacles that these investigators had to endure while trying to uncover the dirty truth about the Archdiocese in Boston. This movie has three sociological theories which are Structural-Functional, Symbolic Interaction, and Social Conflict. Spotlight is a team of five investigators,…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet” (webroot.com). You may notice that this is a very high number of people. At an all-time high, the statistics show that pornography may be a threat to young adults and children. This is because watching pornography incidentally may lead them to have relationship and commitment issues and/or an unrealistic view on sexual activity.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays