The Catholic Church

by Peter G. de Krassel

Hong Kong, February 7. The sexual and political hypocrisy of the Catholic Church has to be closely analyzed and more openly discussed in the 21st century if humanity is to survive.

The Church itself has repeatedly begged off the question. But that hasn't stopped it from repeatedly and forcibly injecting its own views on sex, morality and democracy in any one of 90 national elections that took place last year and most notably in America, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The controversial and politically divisive elections in the Catholic Philippines took place in May. The hotly contested September legislative elections in Hong Kong tested the momentum of people power and the Church's free ride on the democracy wave. The November elections in America tested the public's acceptance of a Catholic candidate for president a candidate who has been rejected by his own church because of his support of a woman's right of choice on the question of abortion.

The Catholic Church in America and the Philippines has taken a very public stand on birth control and abortion. In Hong Kong the Church actively supports the pro-democracy parties and openly opposes Beijing's interpretation of The Basic Law. The Church's political activism therefore justifies taking a closer look at the Church's history of sexual misconduct and democratic hypocrisy.
People in the Philippines, like their brothers and sisters in Latin America and the U.S., are too poor to follow the dictates of the Catholic Church when it comes to contraception. If they did they wouldn't be able to feed all their children. That is why there are so many abandoned street children in Catholic countries. It gets more hypocritical!

Consider this term in the 21st century: Padre. In the Philippines, like all former Spanish colonies, padre, or father, has always had a double meaning when applied to priests. Many Latinos have holy blood. Spanish blood from a priest was an honor because it improved the lineage and looks. The most famous descendant of a priest is former first lady Imelda Marcos. I don't understand what the fuss is to have a priest as an ancestor. It was something we took for granted, she said.

It is the heterosexual and gay Catholic priests and bishops who are sexually active with adults that create the web of dishonesty in the Church that allows priests to molest children. These men are reluctant to reveal wrong-doings by fellow clergy, including child molesters, for fear of being exposed themselves. The Catholic Church's Sexgate cover-up is more contemptible than Monicagate because the victims are young and innocent.

The Church's unwavering opposition to politicians who believe that women have a right to choose whether they abort a pregnancy, Senator John Kerry being the latest victim, reached beyond the bounds of human decency when its pronouncements condemned the raped Kosovar women who wanted to abort their unwanted Serb offspring. The Vatican condemned all efforts by volunteers and international organizations, no matter how desperate the women were. Most of the Kosovar rape victims are Muslims, not Roman Catholics.

The Catholic Church's vocal support of democracy in Hong Kong contradicts its historical practices and is a curious exception driven more by China's refusal to recognize the Vatican and the Catholic Church than its love of democracy.
When Hitler came to power the Catholic Church was the first foreign power to enter into a bilateral treaty with Hitler.

The Catholic Church has excommunicated thousands of believers, including priests, for questioning its dogmatic policies. Yet Hitler and his Catholic Nazi henchmen have not. Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Bormann were all Catholics. Why are their names still on the roles of the Church/ The Catholic Church had no compunction in excommunicating every Communist party member after World War II ended. Why not Nazis? Why did the Vatican and the Catholic Church compound their offense by offering the Nazis the Croatian Rat Line and other escape routes, operating in Rome from the Vatican Catholic College, to flee Europe to Catholic havens in South and Central America? Why did the Catholic Church protect these war criminals and hide them from the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal?

The reason: because Hitler's slogan of Totalitatsan spruch, or claim of the whole, was music to the Catholic Church's ears, a promised return to the medieval ideal of one nation and one church. The doctrine of the separation of church and state was as detested by Hitler as by the Popes.

The Vatican declared the Magna Carta (1215) null and void because the Vatican detests the foundation of constitutional government and continuously enjoys the company of dictators. It wants to return to the Roman Catholic Empire's heyday of glory.

The Catholic Church's active opposition to communism in Poland, Russia and Italy is suspect. Communism was a threat to Catholicism. China is the 21st century proof!

The Pope and Church's refusal to condemn fascism was political. Just as political as its active political participation is today in America, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

No political movement should be opposed or supported by any religious leader or religious organization. Acts of barbarism against humanity, no matter what religious reason is cited, must be condemned by all religious leaders. Separation between state and church must be pursued and enforced as a universal goal in the New World Order if humanity is to survive.