Preparation for the Synod continues apace with a hit job on Pope Benedict.
It is a specific canonical offence to have sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18, regardless of any lower local age of consent. The age of consent in Germany in the late 1970s and early 1980s was, as it still is, 14.
"These cases concern abuses committed during [the then Archbishop Ratzinger's] tenure and sanctioned by the State." Take note. Not least in the gloating BBC. The late 1970s and early 1980s, indeed.
They think they're on a winner with this one, they think they can silence us by mentioning child abuse.
ReplyDeleteThey become completely hysterical when we answer them back. This time, it is all about the Synod. The Benedict and JPII Years must be discredited at all costs. But look what conformity to the secular culture of Western Europe and North America looks like, "sanctioned by the State."
Delete'Sanctioned' is a slightly misleading translation.
ReplyDeleteIn English it's one of those words which can mean either "permitted" or "imposed a penalty on".
You seem to be reading it the first way, but The German here is clearer - it's referring to acts which had criminal sanctions imposed on them by the State - in other words, illegal actions.
I know, but the point still stands.
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