Should the Pope resign?

[boca]

We don't get to discuss the Pope or Catholic Church much. Don't know how many on this forum follow and/or have knowledge & interest of the Catholic Church, a Christian denomination with half the practicing Christians in the world (~1.2B of 2.4B Christians are Catholics).

Question: If the Pope had knowledge of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick's ways ("ways" being a charitable term), and remained silent, should he continue as the Pope?

Reading the Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigan?testimony, it looks pretty damning for the entire Catholic world.

His testimony (scroll down a page) -> https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-us-nuncio-pope-francis-knew-of-mccarricks-misdeeds-repealed-sanction

[drb]

If every man is conscientiously and ethically functioning, there would be a constant flux in positions. Reminds me of John 8:7; let him who is without sin cast first stone.

I am curious - if Archibald Bishop Vigano knew this for so many years, why didn't he bring this out then but now (after his retirement)? He mentioned that a priest should be a candlestick for all etc.....some may view that he too failed when he didn't act early for whatever reasons he had.

[techynt]

That’s not going to fix the underlying problem of making men practice celibacy which is kind of impossible unless one is super busy working on interesting things, and to make matters worse every priest deep down knows that there is no god... hence no consequences :p

[Caramel]

The resignation of the Pope is not going to do any good in my opinion. The abuse, or some form of it, will continue. A more meaningful action is required. Apologies are good, but that does not solve the problem. The Pope will have to think long and hard about the systemic abuse going on for decades and find out the reason. If I were him, as a first step, I will remove the mandatory celibacy requirement for all priests and make it optional. That would at least give a horny priest some avenue to blow off steam. No pun intended. However, this action from the Pope will have a lot of opposition. He will have to go against the centuries old catholic tradition. Tough call.

[drb]

One of the biggest challenge to the man made religion is comeuppance. No matter how much ever different religions in the world talk about heaven, hell etc - when there is no visible threat, men tends to have a laid back approach to his wrong doings. As nobody has come back from heaven or hell to say what's going to go on in afterlife or if there is God or not.

Celibacy is not the only reason for such weird actions. Corrupted minds act no matter what. Lately, read a news that a company is starting "Aura dolls" for violent acts that is not possible with humans. This is to relieve the 'tension' (?). Company has found a new way to make money and likewise people who wants to engage in such things found a recourse too. Now who is going to say which is right and which is wrong?.


Only stringent laws and just punishments can restore and maintain humanity. apologies, resignation etc are of little help to the victims.

[techynt]

One of the biggest challenge to the man made religion is comeuppance. No matter how much ever different religions in the world talk about heaven, hell etc - when there is no visible threat, men tends to have a laid back approach to his wrong doings. As nobody has come back from heaven or hell to say what's going to go on in afterlife or if there is God or not.

Celibacy is not the only reason for such weird actions. Corrupted minds act no matter what. Lately, read a news that a company is starting "Aura dolls" for violent acts that is not possible with humans. This is to relieve the 'tension' (?). Company has found a new way to make money and likewise people who wants to engage in such things found a recourse too. Now who is going to say which is right and which is wrong?.


Only stringent laws and just punishments can restore and maintain humanity. apologies, resignation etc are of little help to the victims.

I am in the camp, which doesn’t favor heavy punishment since many times innocent people are caught in these kinds of nets, unable to prove their innocence, hence I don’t support chopping off of any body parts..

existing laws are stringent enough to deter rational folks but may not for irrational folks like priests

i cant imagine the drudgery involved in lying to gullible folks day in and day out, must be making them go the dark side since anyways they know for sure there is no god to support them in their miserable job..

[boca]

Only stringent laws and just punishments can restore and maintain humanity. apologies, resignation etc are of little help to the victims.

Laws and punishments will work if there is a report of crime and a follow up investigation.

Someone knowing about a crime and not reporting it...how does that help the victims? What is their accountability for not reporting, so that there isn't one more victim?

As for Archibald Bishop Vigano, whether he is culpable or not is not the question of this thread. Holding back for whatever reason and not going to the law enforcement then is an issue and it applies to Vigano, as well.

[Hyderabadi]

Archbishop Theodore McCarrick's ways

there would be a constant flux in positions.
a priest should be a candlestick for all etc.

priest deep down

Pope will have to think long and hard

horny priest some avenue to blow

go the dark side

Dirty mind :p (maybe my post needs to be reported :) )

[boca]

Dirty mind :p (maybe my post needs to be reported :) )

No amount of holy dip in Ganges will help cleanse your dirty mind.

(and don't add "holy dip"..."Ganges" to your list!)

[Hyderabadi]

I like this pope, he is different(for the better) so far from his predecessors