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Roman Catholic Church ... has issues
This shall become the official thread related to the odd developments in the Roman Catholic Church. There are always many amusing ones.
Couldn't help but note these four articles recently that are really hurting the Roman Catholic Church. I bookmarked them recently, but after reading the latest one, I couldn't help but notice the proximity and relation between all four. Well, at least I think so. More reasons to stop blindly following religion, I suppose ... You can still belive in your God - but escape the idiocy of the religious institutions for Christ's sake. Your donations are going to waste - in particularly if you are a devout patron of Roman Catholic Church.
Read these and have a laughter while you're at it. While others you will find bizarre and ridiculous.
http://in.reuters.com/article/lifes...E5282ME20090309
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Vatican paper: Washing machine liberated women most
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Feminists of the world sit down before you read this. The Vatican newspaper says that perhaps the washing machine did more to liberate women in the 20th century than the pill or the right to work.
The submission was made in a lengthy article titled "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women - Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax."
The article was printed at the weekend in l'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper, to mark international Women's Day on Sunday.
"What in the 20th century did more to liberate Western women?," asks the article, which was written by a woman.
"The debate is heated. Some say the pill, some say abortion rights and some the right to work outside the home. Some, however, dare to go further: the washing machine," it says.
It then goes on to talk about the history of washing machines, starting with a rudimentary model in 1767 in Germany and ending up with today's trendy launderettes where a woman can have a cappuccino with friends while the tumbler turns.
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This one is absolutely RETARDED. A nine-year-old girl is RAPED and ABUSED, and obviously too young for a child - which can kill her or weaken her, while she is denied abortion and to top it all off - everyone involved in helping this girl is excommunicated EXCEPT for the very man who ABUSED her in the first place. AGH, the irony!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...im-1640165.html
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Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
Church excommunicates mother and doctors – but not accused rapist
Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".
In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, the cardinal added: "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected."
Related articles
* The washing machine 'liberated women'
Police believe the girl was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. That she was four months pregnant with twins emerged only after she was taken to hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.
The controversy represents a PR nightmare for the Vatican. The unnamed girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to Wednesday's emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather, who is in custody. Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop for Pernambuco where the girl was rushed to hospital, has said that the man would not be thrown out of the Church, because although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime", the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".
The case has set off fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is permitted only in cases of rape or a medical emergency. Brazil is one of the most populous Catholic countries, but conservative attitudes in rural areas are strongly at odds with the relatively progressive public view of abortion in major cities.
Even the President, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, has waded into the row. "As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," he said "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old. In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church."
One of the doctors involved in the abortion, Rivaldo Albuquerque, has raised the prospect of public clashes at his local church, telling Globo, the nation's main TV network, that he would keep going to mass there, regardless of the archbishop's order. The young girl at the centre of the case escaped excommunication only because she is still a child in the eyes of Church authorities. The stepfather, who is 23, was arrested last week, apparently trying to escape to another region of the country. Police say he is also suspected of abusing the girl's handicapped 14-year-old sister. He is in protective custody, and if convicted faces up to 15 years in prison.
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Rome is apparently AGAINST condoms and rather stupidly expects that Africans will easily and dutifully follow abstinence (which we all know doesnt work very well - ESPECIALLY in Africa). Oh, the Pope thinks condoms actually INCREASE the problems! How dumb. Not to mention the risk to health and spread of AIDS.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7950671.stm
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The French foreign ministry has voiced "sharp concern" following the Pope's rejection of condom use to fight Aids.
Benedict XVI, who is on a tour of Africa, said handing out condoms only increased the problem of HIV/Aids.
The Roman Catholic Church says marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of HIV.
But France, echoing the reaction of some aid agencies, said it "voices extremely sharp concern over the consequences of [the Pope's comments]".
"While it is not up to us to pass judgment on Church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life," foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
'HIV tragedy'
Delphine Mauvenir
Pope's visit raises hopes
Can Catholicism help Africa?
The Pope arrived in Cameroon on Tuesday at the start of his week-long African tour.
He urged Christians everywhere to speak out against corruption and abuses of power.
"A Christian can never remain silent," he said, after being greeted by President Paul Biya, Cameroon's ruler for the past 26 years.
But he sparked controversy by telling reporters that HIV/Aids was "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem".
The solution lay, he said, in a "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer".
Some activists were dismayed by the approach, saying condoms were one of the few methods proved to stop the spread of HIV.
Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: "His opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."
Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007.
This amounts to about two-thirds of the global total.
Private meeting
Catholic women wave rosaries in Yaounde, Cameroon (18 March 2009)
The Pope said Catholicism faced a threat from superstition
On Wednesday, the Pope attended a gathering of more than 30 Cameroonian bishops in the capital, Yaounde.
He told the bishops they had to preserve traditional African families and protect the country's poor.
"In the context of globalisation with which we are all familiar, the church takes a particular interest in those who are most deprived," he said.
He said it was the duty of Christians to help to build "a more just world where everyone can live with dignity", the Associated Press reported.
The Pope also warned of a threat to the Catholic Church in Cameroon from evangelical movements and from the "growing influence of superstitious forms of religion".
Earlier on Wednesday, he held a private meeting with Mr Biya at the presidential palace.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Yaounde says Mr Biya's consistent electoral victories have been widely condemned as fraudulent.
Having spoken out publically against corruption, many Cameroonians will be hoping that the Pope delivered his message in private as well, says our correspondent.
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Well, this one you probably already know ... so many wonderful Catholic clergymen are abusing children and women out there! No worries though, Catholic church gets so much money in donations from its blind followers trying to buy out their sins, it has no problems dishing out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements! 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7943368.stm
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Sex claims against US Church rise
The number of new claims of sexual abuse made against US Roman Catholic priests rose by 16% to more than 800 last year, a Church report says.
It says the Church paid $436m (£313m) in 2008 for abuse cases. Most of the money was used to compensate victims.
The study covered almost 200 dioceses and religious orders across the US.
It found that more than one in five victims were under the age of 10 when they were abused.
Although the number of claims made against the Church rose in 2008, the total cost dropped by 29% compared to the previous year.
The Associated Press news agency said 2007 was an unusually high year, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began paying a $660m settlement to about 500 people.
The annual review tracks progress made in implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children, adopted by US bishops following a scandal in Boston in 2002.
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said the Church was "on the right path" in its quest to better protect "all children in society".
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I'm telling you - the world has gone crazy. Long ago.
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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture
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