Nazis Were First to Exploit Pedophile Priests to Attack Entire Catholic Church (yup, Nazi card)

[Fuzz]

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10042304.html

ROME, April 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "There are cases of sexual abuse that are coming to light every day against a great number of the members of the Catholic clergy. Unfortunately, we are perhaps not talking so much about individual cases but rather a collective moral crisis that the cultural history of humanity may never have known at such a frightful and concerning level. Numerous priests and religious have confessed to the crime. There is no doubt that the thousands of cases that have come to be known to the authorities represent only a small fraction of the true number, since many molesters have been covered and hidden by the hierarchy."

Although the above quote could have appeared in any number of editorials in recent weeks, the statement was made by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in 1937, according to Italian journalist Massimo Introvigne.

In an article published recently for Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Catholic bishops' conference, Introvigne says that Goebbels launched a fierce smear campaign against the Catholic Church following its condemnation of the Nazi regime that same year, attempting to convince the public that the Catholic priesthood was filled with child sex abusers.

Introvigne says that Goebbels' campaign followed the same pattern seen in recent media attacks on the Church. Although it was based on a few real cases that had come to light in 1936, and far fewer that the number of cases currently being discussed from mostly the 1960s and 70s, it exaggerated their extent and attempted to revive them after they had already been resolved, in an attempt to discredit Catholics.

"The cases, which were few, but real, produced a very strong reaction from the episcopate," writes Introvigne. "On June 2, 1936, the Bishop of Münster - Blessed Clemens August von Galen (1878-1946), who was the soul of Catholic resistance to Nazism, and who was beatified in 2005 by Benedict XVI - had a declaration read at all the Sunday Masses in which he expressed 'pain and sadness' for these 'abominable crimes' that "cover our Holy Church with ignominy.'"

The German episcopate soon after published a condemnation of the perpetrators, and implemented what Introvigne called "severe measures" to prevent future crimes. The bishops privately pointed out that the Hitler Youth and the schools had a far bigger problem with child sex abuse.

<snip>