The Pope's own pastor today referred to the child sex-abuse allegations swirling around the pontiff as "petty gossip." And this seems to have been a bit of a rhetorical retreat from yesterday when the persiflage about pederasty was compared to anti-semitism. My own reflections have been along a somewhat different line: I have been asking myself what institutions in this world of ours have a record of BOTH OPPOSING HOMOSEXUALITY AND COVERING UP PEDOPHILIA, and what is the significance of this oxymoron.
One of the first examples that came to mind is one that must be couched carefully. Without in anyway comparing the Roman Catholic Church to Nazi Germany, it must still be said as a point of fact that these two huge organizations both systematically opposed homosexuality and covered up pedophilia (in the Nazis among its own SS rather than, as with the Church, among its priests).
Another example that comes to mind is that of British orphanages. I do not personally know for sure that the directors of these orphanages openly opposed homosexuality, but it seems a fair bet that they did. And recent scandals have brought us proof that along with this opposition came the coverup of pedophilia.
As for the Catholic Church and anti-semitism, I must say, as one who has read Norman Cohn’s magisterial work, The Pursuit of the Millennium, on anti-semitism over the past 1,000 years, it is fair to say that the number one source of anti-semitism during this great sweep of time was the Roman Catholic Church. Time after time, before committing pograms in German cities, the leaders would get the pope’s permission.
The Church no longer argues that Jews killed Christ, but to me this latest fabulism is almost equally disgusting, this remarkable variation on the usual homophobic idea that pedophiles are in fact just garden-variety homosexuals who by one means or another have been put in intimate contact with children. The idea of the Roman Catholic Church and the German Nazis and the English orphanages to hotly oppose homosexuality but to protect its own leaders who engage in pedophilia – how shall we characterize this?
And if the prelate in the pointed cap thinks this is petty gossip, how would you characterize it?