Why Pope Benedict was the First Pope to Resign in 600 Years
The Vatican Coverup of sexual abuse scandals within the church has never been fully addressed to anyone's satisfcation.
@richq11 recently posted "Pizzagate: The Tip of the Iceberg"
https://steemit.com/pedophilia/@richq11/pizzagate-the-tip-of-the-iceberg
It got me thinking about the pedophilia and sexual abuse in the Catholic church and I recalled a documentary I had seen recently describing the church's epidemic of pedophilia and child abuse. As many of us know, this abuse has been going on for decades, and so too have the coverups. Priests who sexually abused children were removed from their parrish by the Vatican and reassigned to another, rather than having offenders face criminal charges. This was done to to hide the heinous abuses from the general public and to protect the Vatican's wealth. Ultimately, the church protected the child abusers from serious penalty while trying to silence victims.
Before becoming Pope Benedict, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was prefect for the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. In this position his work would bring scores of cases of priest sexual abuse to his attention. He was responsible for matters of theology and discipline.
This documentary tells the story of the Legionnaires of Christ and Marcial Maciel and highlights the power struggles within the church from the time of Pope John Paul II to Pope Francis. It is argued that one of the main reasons the abuses were covered up was because Maciel was no ordinary priest, he was responsible for procuring large donations to the church.
It also touches upon the issue of priest celibacy and repression of sexuality.
This is by no means the definitive answer to why Ratzinger resigned but it does highlight the rampant abuse, power struggles and coverups throughout the Catholic church.
Joseph's own Brother Georg Ratzinger has been accused of sexual and physical abuse at a German school for choir boys.
