World-wide outrage from the Catholic community caused the Vatican to promptly threaten legal actions against international clothing retailer United Colors of Benneton, if they didn’t immediately pull one specific ad from their latest international campaign, depicted below (click to enlarge).
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi described Benetton’s picture of Pope Benedict XVI and Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayeb, imam of the renowned al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, a
“totally unacceptable” show of
“grave disrespect”. Before the ad was thwarted, Lombardi said that the Vatican was
“considering the steps to take with the competent authorities to guarantee suitable protection of respect for the figure of the Holy Father”. Occording to him, the image was an
“offense against the sentiments of the faithful” and evidence of how advertising can
“violate the elementary rules of respect for persons in order to draw attention through provocation”.
Funny how a fictitious picture of the Pope can create complete moral frenzy, but the plethora of child-molestation cover-up cases (that Ratzinger was in charge of from 1962 up until he became Pope) doesn’t even make Lombardi flinch. In fact, when the Vatican rejected the resignation of two Dublin Auxilary Bishops, Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field, who were centrally involved in the Irish child-abuse scandal that began in 2004, Lombardi only said that it was Vatican policy to make public announcements only when resignations are accepted, not when they are rejected. He declined further comment…
The Irish government-authorized investigation into Dublin Archdiocese cover-ups, names more than a dozen current and former bishops as responsible for failing to inform the authorities about more than 170 suspected pedophiles in the priesthood from the mid-1970s to mid-1990s. Thousands of previously secret church documents show detailed church knowledge of crimes committed against several hundred Irish children. The full report can be downloaded from this page: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504
Walsh has been a Dublin auxiliary bishop since 1990 and Field since 1997. Both continue onwards with their Holy business, completely untouched. Both are supposedly outraged about Benneton’s campaign too.
Sources:
huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/benetton-kissing-ad-pope-el-tayeb_n_1098243.html
SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press, Wed Aug 11, 1:48 pm ET, 2010
Tags: ad campaign, Benneton, injustice, justice, lawsuit, Pope kissing, Pope kissing Imam, Ratzinger's kiss, United Colors of Benneton, vatican
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The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), have with the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) of New York, filed a lawsuit at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, targeting leading figures at the Vatican (including the Holy See himself) for crimes against humanity regarding the “systematic and widespread” practice of concealing sexual crimes around the world, let alone failing to punish and/or report such hideous crimes. The entire submission of the ICC Vatican Prosecution documents, including the “Vatican Sex Crime Files”, are openly available for anyone to read, and who has the time and interest to gain full insight.
It is urged that this link is shared as vigorously as possible: http://ccrjustice.org/ICCVaticanProsecution
The easiest way to do so, is either sharing this article on Facebook, via the links at the bottom, or simply by copying and pasting the actual link onto your wall.
The persons identified in the complaint as bearing the greatest responsibility for a system of sexual violence in the church are:
1) Pope Benedict XVI, both in his capacity as Pontiff (2005 – present), and formerly as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect (head) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (1981 – 2005), the entity tasked with overseeing the handling of allegations of sexual assault by priests.
2) Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals (2006 – present), having replaced Ratzinger upon his appointment as Pope; formerly served as the Vatican’s Secretary of State (1990 – 2006).
3) Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, as Sodano’s successor as Vatican Secretary of State (2006 – present), and who also serves as the Camerlengo (2007 – present). In his previous position, he served as Secretary of the CDF under Joseph Ratzinger (1995 -2002).
4) Cardinal William Levada, as Prefect for the CDF (2005 – present), and in his prior positions as Archbishop of Portland, OR (1986 – 1999), Archbishop of San Francisco (1995 -2005), and in other official positions at the CDF (serving part of his time under Ratzinger).
It is noteworthey that there is no mention of Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, formerly of the Boston Archdiocese, who has resigned his position of Cardinal, althought currently resided in Vatican City, despite being demanded extradited to the USA by the American Supreme Court. Most noteworthy, Cardinal Law took “too little action in handling John Geoghan”, a Boston priest who allegedly molested over 130 children during his ministry. Stemming from the case in Boston, by the end of 2002, over 1,200 priests have later been accused of abuse across the entire USA. (Source: http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/overview/)
Tags: action, Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), court, injustice, International Criminal Court (ICC), justice, lawsuit, pedophile, pope, procecution, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), vatican
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