John Paul smelled Devil`s Bowels as roses for 27 years as he deified Father Marcial Maciel and deified Cardinal Bernard Law

False Saint John Paul II the Great has two Achilles Heels and which prove he does not deserve to be beatified and canonized a saint: on his right papal foot, John Paul II`s Achilles Heel is Father Marcial Maciel. On his left papal foot, John Paul II`s Achilles Heel is Cardinal Bernard Law. John Paul II knew of the phenomenon of priest pedophilia especially from these two men who were very close to him. Read our related article Beloved companions John Paul II and Fr. Marcial Maciel together in their journeys to Guadalupe: Both were great founders and great deceivers alike http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/01/beloved-companions-john-paul-ii-and-fr.html To deny and call upon the ``ignorance`` of John Paul II that he did not know about priest pedophilia -- is to mock us people of the 20th and 21st century as simpletons -- hey Benedict XVI and the Vatican, we were not born in the last rain. John Paul II wrote about All Things Catholic and wrote about every subject matter under the sun and for you to say that he did not know about the most important heinous crimes against Catholic children happening under his Holy See for 27 years is a plea of insanity by JP2 fanatics. When Cardinal Bernard Law confessed in public that he transferred 80 pedophile priests in Boston, that alone should have `touched the conscience of John Paul II who was preparing for his last World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. Obviously his papal conscience was numbed by the fanatic chants of ``JP2 we love you`` by hundreds of thousands of fanatic Catholics who only like to party and listen to feel-good-theology -- just like they will do now in Rome for the beatification of False Saint John Paul II. Boston'S 80 pedophile priests and their transfers during the course of let`s say 10 years (more than that)by Cardinal Bernard Law means that they, at least, have molested more than 10 children each, an underestimation, that’s 1 kid per year times 10 years. That’s 10 kids times 80 pedophile priests equals 800 shattered lives especially of little boys. And we know now that there was more than one raped victim per pedophile priest. Cardinal Bernard Law was forced to resign in disgrace, sell his Bishop's Palace to Boston Collge and pay more than $100 million dollars as settlement to victims. Soon enough John Paul II farted at us Bostonian laity and elevated him as ``the High Priest of the `mother of all basilicas of Rome``. What kind of a mother is Mary, the purest of God`s creature, that she would embrace John Paul II or tolerate the evil presence of Cardinal Bernard Law at her own house? No mother of victims of pedophile priests would embrace the predator priests who destroyed the lives of their sons and no mother would embrace the hierarchical pompous red hat Cardinal who aided and abetted their predators. Survivors and their families today seek justice, jail time for pedophile priests and the resignation of those in hierarchy... So why did John Paul II love Father Marcial Maciel as the apple of his papal eye and traveled with him to Guadalupe Mexico, the most number of papal foreign trips because John Paul II loved the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and now his gigantic statue is at the entrance of that basilica? One of the most important answers is that John Paul II deified Father Marcial Maciel just like Cardinal Bernard Law deified Father Robert Shanley because St. Augustine and Pope Innocent deified all priests. Read the two articles below of St. Augustine and Innocent II deifying all priests.

In November 2004, four months or 16 weeks before his holy death on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, April 2, 2005, John Paul II praised Father Marcial Maciel during Maciel’s 60th year celebration of his priesthood at the Vatican as this photo shows.



Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger also knew of Father Marcial Maciel

We present videos here which show Cardinal Ratzinger as the powerful Prefect of the CDF being asked by a journalist about Fr. Maciel and Ratzinger got upset and slapped the hand of the reporter instead. He was younger then and he knew well and has heard of Fr. Maciel. Cardinal Ratzinger went on with his usual job at the Vatican and went to this procession in Poland (see video) to celebrate a Polish saint which was all part of the preparation for the beatification of the future Polish saint john Paul II. We present videos here also to show the narcissism and grandiosity John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger and why their obsessions for ostentatious costumes and papal ceremonies help make them numb towards the plights of children and why they were cohorts at the Vatican for more than a quarter of century in the cover-up and aiding and abetting of thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests under the 27 years papacy of John Paul II.

Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America

Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 6,000 priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI & Opus Dei, the new Vatican Trinity

Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva. John Paul II followed the Spirituality of St. Josemaria Escriva (so does Benedict XVI). Opus Dei is the most secretive cult of the Catholic Church and they now control the Vatican bank and the Vatican Swiss Banks. Read more in Faces of Rapists-Priests: from Father Marcial Maciel covered-up by John Paul II and the Eucharist. JOIN Signatories` protest against JP2 beatification http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/03/faces-of-rapists-priests-from-father.html

Video of Fr. Marcial Maciel with John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who ignores journalist asking him about Maciel



POPE RATZINGER SLAPS REPORTER who ask him about Fr. Marcial Maciel


In 2002, Cardinal Ratzinger receives the honorary doctorate from the Opus Dei University of Navarra in Spain and he is wearing a white tassled hat as he embrace the Opus Dei Prelate. It is ceremonies and titles likes these that the Opus Dei are only interested in that is why Cardinal Ratzinger who was the Prefect for the CDF Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years ignored all pedophiles accusations against Fr. Marcial Maciel and the thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests in the world. Together with John Paul II they both covered-up and aided and abetted thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests as they were obsessed with their own narcissism and grandiosity, read our related article The narcissism and grandiosity of John Paul II, Cardinal Bernard Law, Benedict XVI, and Bishop Roger Vangheluwe are nauseating and despicable http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/narcissism-and-grandiosity-of-john-paul.html



Realistic old photos of ugly John Paul II the leader of the JP2 Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army



John Paul II's Last Public Appearance - in March 2005 Pope John Paul II appeared briefly at his Vatican window to bless the faithful despite his failing health. He died three days later. Note that he was taken swiftly out from the window with a rushed closing of the curtain. He had no microphone on but his hands were still strong to bless and he could have lived on for more weeks and maybe months which is a sign that he had euthanasia so that his death was orchestrated that he die on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday.



Old John Paul II callous in heart towards hundreds of thousands of children victims of the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by the John Paul II pedophiles rapists-priests



Opus Dei man keeps yelling ‘Viva Papa’ on his last Christmas in 2004 all planned for youTube – the narcissism and grandiosity of John Paul II (among all popes combined) as he wallowed in glory at the Vatican where he could not hear the silent pains of priests-raped-children who suffered under his 27 years papacy



Cardinal Ratzinger in Poland procession in 2003, the papacy has been planned for him 24 years ago by the Opus Dei. John Paul II was an actor and a member of the Opus Dei when he was elected pope, orchestrated by the Opus Dei who already controlled the Vatican Bank.

Cardinal Bernard Law deified Father Robert Shanley, one of the most notorious pedophile priests

In 1996 (7 years before John Paul II’s laud of Maciel) Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston also praised Father Robert Shanley in a letter saying:

“For thirty years in assigned ministry you brought God's Word and His love to people, and I know that continues to be your goal despite some difficult limitations... Without doubt over all these years of generous and zealous care, the lives and hearts of many people have been touched by your sharing of the Lord's Spirit”. (2) Excerpts and footnotes from article “The Legacy of Augustine: The Pedophile Priest Scandal” see article below .

In 1977, (a year before John Paul II, a seasoned Cardinal who practically lived at the Vatican was elected pope on October 16, 1978), the same Father Shanley said in a speech,

"no sexual act causes psychic damage, not even incest or bestiality," and that in pedophilia, "the adult is not the seducer - the "kid" is and further the kid is not traumatized by the act per se," but by being dragged in for questioning by the police. Further, "Homosexuality is a gift from God," Shanley said, "and should be celebrated." (3) The report of this speech had been on file for nineteen years, during which time Father Shanley repeatedly acted on his beliefs, at the expense of the youth of his parishes, by the time Cardinal Law wrote his letter. (4) Excerpts and footnotes from article “The Legacy of Augustine: The Pedophile Priest Scandal” see below.

When the laity of Boston successfully forced Cardinal Bernard Law to resign in disgrace after he admitted to transferring 80 pedophile priests from one parish to another during his tenure as Cardinal, he went to a nun’s convent in exile (a life of prayer and penance which the Benedict prescribed to Maciel and now to Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Belgium read our article The narcissism and grandiosity of John Paul II, Cardinal Bernard Law, Benedict XVI, and Bishop Roger Vangheluwe are nauseating and despicable http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/narcissism-and-grandiosity-of-john-paul.html. But a few months later, John Paul II quickly elevated Law to the Vatican as the Archpriest of the St. Mary Major, the ‘mother of all basilicas of Rome’. John Paul II wanted to prove to us Bostonians that he was the boss and in no way can we the simple laity of Boston can dethrone a Prince of the Church, Cardinal Law, who was also a priest forever according to the Sacrament of the Priesthood.

Today, 6 years after his death, John Paul II is beatified as the fastest track saint in history and Benedict XVI knows (and corroborated with him) in the cover-up of Fr. Marcial Maciel and the thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests now being unearth in the USA, Germany, Ireland, Europe and around the globe, the aptly names John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army who committed the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions of the 20th Century under the Holy See of the 27 years papacy of John Paul II.

How can Benedict XVI be so callous as to insult and papal fart at the hundreds of thousands of children who were sodomized for years by so called holy priests under John Paul II’s watch and his own as Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?

And how can Father Marcial Maciel, Fr. Robert Shanley, Cardinal Bernard Law and John Paul II be priests forever after they have committed and presided over the most heinous crimes against children of pedophiles rapists-priests in the 20th century? The answers are in four persons: Pope Innocent III, St. Augustine, St. Alphonse de Ligouri, Rev. Pierre Chaignon (1907)

Two articles expose and answer these important questions: “The Legacy of Augustine: The Pedophile Priest Scandal» by the Twelve Tribes and “Ye Shall Be As Gods “ by Leon J. Podles: Dialogue.

Excerpts from: “The Legacy of Augustine: The Pedophile Priest Scandal” by the Twelve Tribes (bold emphasis added)

How could this be?

The answer is tied up in an ancient controversy of the Christian Church, one in which the sinfulness of the priest was explicitly considered in regards to his ministry. And the answer, just as decisively, came down that a sinful priest could continue to serve as a conduit of Christ's grace. It was not the priest's status that mattered in the sacraments, but Christ's, who is, of course, beyond reproach. So, in regards to their most essential functioning in the Roman Catholic Church, these men's flagrant sexual immorality had no bearing on their priesthood.

Early in the fourth century, a bishop named Donatus insisted that the sacraments, ministered by unclean hands, conferred no grace. He believed that priests who had betrayed the faith in the last persecutions of the Roman Empire in the early 300s were traitors to the faith, and so could not resume their positions once the persecution ended. This controversy lingered on for close to a hundred years over the general issue of the sinfulness or the righteousness of the priest. Augustine in the early 400s articulated the Catholic position. It remains doctrine to the present day, which this deluge of controversy, lawsuits, and public shame over pedophilia in the priesthood has not changed in the slightest .

Augustine poses the essential theological (not moral) question at work regarding these predatory priests: "There stands before us one that is faithless ready to baptize, and he who should be baptized is ignorant of his faithlessness: what think you that he will receive?" Augustine draws no line regarding the state of the priest's conscience, not even when "the conscience of the giver [the priest] may be in such a condition as to be accursed and defiled" - which certainly speaks of the consciences of those preying on innocent children year after year.

A pope, writing nearly eight hundred years later, would unconditionally confirm this teaching:

"Nothing more is accomplished by a good priest and nothing less by a wicked priest, because it is accomplished by the word of the Creator and not the merit of the priest. Thus the wickedness of the priest does not nullify the effect of the sacrament, just as the sickness of a doctor does not destroy the power of his medicine. Although the 'doing of the thing (opus operans)' may be unclean, nevertheless, the 'thing which is done (opus operatum)' is always clean." - Pope Innocent III (1160-1216)

Faithlessness... wicked priest... wickedness... none of these matter! It's official doctrine. The knowledge of these facts from history and theology makes it easier to understand how the hierarchy of the Catholic Church of America could, systematically and knowingly, employ such depraved individuals as priests.

According to their greatest theologian, Augustine, it simply didn't matter. Nothing else can explain the report from February of this year, by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board, which “revealed that 10,667 children were allegedly victimized by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002, but said the figures depend on self-reporting by American bishops and were probably an undercount." (8)

Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) was probably one of the best manipulators who knew how to use words and abuse his papal powers to great length, next to Benedict XVI who is now abusing his papal powers by beatifying John Paul II with the speediest beatification ever. Pope Innocent III words are still being followed today by the trembling fears of Catholics as they deify priests and now deify the new Blessed John Paul II. In his essay Ye Shall Be As Gods, UNITED STATES, Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

Innocent III claimed that scripture called priests gods: “‘Diis no detrahes,’ [Ex. 22:28] sacerdotes intelligens, qui propter excellentiam ordinis et offici dignitatem nomine nuncupator” (You shall not revile gods, meaning priests, who are called by the name of gods because of the excellency of the order and the dignity of the office)

This sort of rhetoric gave the clergy a severe case of the notions. St. Alphonse de Ligouri, a doctor of the Church, taught that “in obedience to the words of his priests - HOC EST CORPUS MEUM - God Himself descends on the altar, that He comes wherever they call Him, and as often as they call Him, and places Himself in their hands, even though they should be His enemies. And after having come, He remains, entirely at their disposal.” In 1907 the Rev. Pierre Chaignon told his fellow priests that they were like Mary “for the Word of God made flesh puts Himself under our control as He had put himself under hers and obeys us as He deigned to obey her.”

John Paul II deified Fr. Marcial Maciel according to the writings of St. augustine and Innocent II as we now know and we must stop this priests-as-gods-insanity once and for all in the 21st century
Innocent II knew how to manipulate words and he made sure that his papal words would cover all sins and crimes of priests and popes like himself at the Vatican. His words still resound today as priests are deified and feared and can do no wrong.

John Paul II – deified - Fr. Marcial Maciel as he blessed him on his 60th anniversary of his priesthood at the Vatican, which was 16 weeks before his death on April 2, 2005. And now John Paul II is deified by Benedict XVI. It is now up to the young Catholics to change history and stop this insane deification of priest and hold John Paul II accountable for his papal-numb-conscience as he blessed and praised one of the most notorious pedophile and pederast Fr. Marcial Maciel who was a serial pedophile who sodomized his own biological sons. Benedict XVI was forced to place Maciel into a hidden life because Mexican TV and media was going to expose the hidden wife of Maciel and his biological sons whom he sexually abused for years. The WYD World youth Day young men and women should stop chanting “JP2 we love you” because it is Christ who they should love. They should also stop being fanatics and stop contributing to the Catholic Church and give their moneys to the Red Cross and secular charities where lay people like themselves go and risk their lives in the open field. It is time that the God and Mammon of the Vatican Swiss Banks where moneys of despots are safely kept and therefore the Vatican is the foremost responsible for the oppression and pooe peoples and poor countries. The Vatican is the most corrupt insitution on the planet Earth !!!

Pictures do not lie and videos do not lie and here we see that John Paul II, the holiest and fastest-tracking saint in history beatified by the most pathological liar pope Benedict XVI who was his partner in the quarter of a century cover-up fo teh Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions commited by the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army http://jp2army.blogspot.com/

Read our related articles:

Cardinals petitioned for JP2 fast track the same way Cardinals and Bishops petitioned for St. Josemaria Escriva canonization under financial duress http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/cardinals-petitioned-for-jp2-fast-track.html

Why John Paul II is Opus Dei's Patron Saint: analysis of conference at Holy Cross Pontifical University in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html



This is the image of the woman as the sun Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children and holding a child up high away from the snares and snatches of the Serpent but John Paul II gave countless thousands of little boys to the Serpent of Sodomy to be sodomized and raped by his John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army for over 27 years during his glorious papacy as John Paul II the Great



The Danish cartoonist of the prophet Mohammed portrayed John Paul II as the Pope of Pedophilia with the inscription "I am not for homosexuality but for pedophilia".

John Paul II is the Sun as the Infallible Most Powerful Pope of the Catholics with seven rays of the 7 Sacraments, he is in his white papal uniform and his two papal hands pulls up the children`s robes because he enabled and allowed thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests to go on freely sodomizing and raping little boys (and girls) during his longest reigning papacy of 27 years, together with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger his right-hand man as Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html.

Saint Michael the Archangel tied a giant millstone to John Paul II's neck at the last World Youth Day speech of JP2 see John Paul II the Pope of Sodomy: Vision of St. Michael the Archangel tying a giant millstone to John Paul II at World Youth Day in 2002 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/08/john-paul-ii-pope-of-sodomy.html

Read our sister weblog Mary versus John Paul II http://stella0maris.blogspot.com/

B-DAY Beatification Day is like D-DAY - a major military campaign begins with a view to ultimate victory - the canonisation of John Paul II

B-DAY

THE EDITOR

Pope Benedict's announcement that he will beatify his predecessor at the beginning of May has set off a predictable flood of eulogic propaganda in the neo-conservative press.

The orchestrated exultation actually started in April 2005 when Charismatic groups conspired to reduce the Pope's requiem to a liturgical circus with their puerile and irreverent chants of "Great! Great! Great!", "John Paul II we love you!" and "Saint now!" The excessive response to news of the beatification is just the latest stage of this contrived process which will speed on to canonisation, by hook or by crook, in double quick time.

Papolators and Realists

By no means, however, does the propaganda represent the universal view of Catholics. Rather, it is aimed at the emoting majority: the neo-conservative herd who put their brains on hold long ago in order to cope with the brave new world of endless novelty, mixed-messages and chaos opened up by the Vatican Council. Their emotional response is understandable. False obedience and feel-good papolatry makes for an easier life than the sacrifices demanded by baptismal promises and serious reflection on Catholic Tradition.

For those who have managed to keep their heads these past forty years while the bulk of the hierarchy, clergy and faithful around them have so determinedly lost theirs, on the other hand, the announcement is just another post-conciliar red flag: a clarion call for more straight talk and ever blunter assessments.

Representing a vast, albeit ignored minority of the faithful, these (ever hopeful) realists are not prepared to suspend their critical faculties in this or any other matter. Nor will they discount their painful lived experience of the 1978-2005 papacy, which screams out against the latest attempt to bless the catastrophic Pastoral Experiment-known-as-Vatican II by formally raising its greatest champion to the altar of the Church just five years after his death.

Indeed, to their mind, the fast-track beatification of this particular pontiff and its delirious reception positively embodies the present delusional and dysfunctional state of local Churches everywhere. For the injustice, arrogance, blindness, cowardice and suicidal self-satisfaction that afflicts the post-conciliar Church is not only exemplified by the diabolically disoriented Modernist episcopates tyrannising the West. It is personified, too, by neo-conservatives who, to a greater or lesser extent, acquiesce in the destructive status quo promoted by a Pope they idolise.

Not so the discerning minority. These faithful understand John Paul II's popular appeal and most certainly regard him as the Pope of Life. Yet while truly grateful for his mighty contribution to that cause, they refuse to wish away the tragic fact that he was just as surely the Pope of unspeakable Negligence, Complicity, Scandal and Dissolution. [See "John Paul the Great? ... Or Great Disappointment?"], June/July 2005. Also, John Vennari's excellent summary, "The Secret of Pope John Paul II’s Success,"], 2005.  ...

...

B-Day

In his December 2010 Libero article, Prof. de Mattei explains that: "[the historian] cannot isolate the texts of the Second Vatican Council from the historical context which produced them.... Just as Vatican II cannot be presented as an event which only concerns three years of Church history, without considering the deep roots and also the profound consequences it had in the Church and society. The pretentious separation of the Council from the post-Council is as untenable as separating the Conciliar texts from the pastoral context in which they were written. No serious historian or person of good sense could accept this artificial separation born of pure bias and not of a serene and objective evaluation of facts. Still today, we are living the consequences of the 'Conciliar Revolution' which anticipated and accompanied that of May 1968. Why hide it? The Church, as Leo XIII affirmed, opening the Vatican Secret Archives to researchers, 'must not fear the truth'."

Similarly, we should not fear the truth about John Paul II, one of the leading architects of that very Revolution, nor create an "artificial separation" between the pontificate and the person based on emotion rather than "serene and objective evaluation of the facts"; details pertaining to his suspect views and their relation to the scandal and chaos he oversaw and bequeathed.

Like his mentor Paul VI and his successor Benedict XVI, John Paul II and Vatican II are joined at the hip. If that fact alone was not enough to disqualify his cause, it should at least have put it on hold for a very lengthy period of time. And that holds true even if God used the Council as a winnowing fan to purify His Church [see "Vatican II and Divine Providence," Oct. 2003]. God's ways are certainly not ours. But He does not play His earthly Vicars like fatalistic marionettes. A pope is not given a free pass on the strict fulfilment of his duties. He is not exempted from the godly exercise of his intellect, free will and prudential judgement. He does not stand blameless before God and men while peddling or tolerating erroneous ideas and actions that imperil the very Barque of Peter he commands. He is God's helmsman, not His helpless puppet!

During a 5 February 2011 episcopal ordination of the secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Benedict said "We must be careful that the faith always expresses itself in love and in justice toward each other." Absolutely. But where is the love and justice in disregarding the feelings of millions of faithful Catholics who harbour such fearful reservations about John Paul II? Where is the prudence and propriety in accelerating his beatification to warp speed in these circumstances? Where is the charity in treating critics as if their myriad, irrefutable objections do not exist?

The injustice at play here mirrors the heinous maltreatment and disregard endured by defenders of Tradition for forty-five years. It is a sure recipe for still further division and discontent in a Church already balkanised from top to bottom. It sets orthodox Catholics one against the other. And all for what? To shore up a corrosive Council and save it from the ignominious dustbin of history marked "Failed," that it so richly deserves.

Make no mistake, if D-Day marks the day on which a major military campaign begins with a view to ultimate victory, then 1 May 2011 is surely B-Day: John Paul II's beatification marking the start of the push for his canonisation and the final crowning of the Balthasarian revolt he led like no other.

If achieved, this Conciliar Crown of Thorns will weigh upon the Mystical Body of Christ in perpetuity: a bitter memorial to a sainted pontiff who played to the crowd while Razing the Bastions; who fought for Life yet, paradoxically, sacrificed his flock on the altar of neo-Modernism.

http://www.christianorder.com/editorials/editorials_2011/editorials_mar11.html

Pledge to Protect Kids. Compromiso para proteger a los niños

Pledge to Protect Kids

• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys experience an incident of sexual abuse before the age of 18.
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator.
• Most victims of child sexual abuse never tell another soul about their abuse.
• Child sexual abuse will have devastating and life-long consequences for the victim.

What Can You Do To Help?

All of us can take the pledge today. Anyone can report child sexual abuse to the police or to a child protective services agency. If we all pledge to watch out for the children in our communities and to report abuse and/or suspicious behavior, kids will be safer.

Please, will you take the pledge today??

Yes, I will take the pledge to protect kids!! I will watch out for all the children in my church as if they were my own and I will immediately report known or suspected abuse to the authorities, no matter when it occurred.

You can take the pledge online by going to: http://www.pledgetoprotectkids.org/
Or, you can send this completed form to:
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, PO Box 6416, Chicago, IL 60680-6416

Name (optional)________________________________________________________________________

City and State__________________________________________________________________________

Phone Number (optional)______________________ Email (optional)____________________________

Thank you for making the world safer for kids!

Toll Free Number: 1-877-SNAPHEALS (1-877-762-7432)

http://www.snapnetwork.org/PDF_files/3rdFINALPledge2ProtectKids.doc

PLEDGE TO PROTECT EVENTS http://www.snapnetwork.org/links_homepage/pledge_to_protect_events.htm


===========

Compromiso para proteger a los niños

• 1 de cada 4 niñas y 1 de cada 6 niños ha experimentado abuso sexual antes de los 18 años.
• El 90% de los niños víctimas de abuso sexual conocen al autor.
• La mayoría de niños víctimas del abuso sexual nunca cuentan a otra persona lo sucedido.
• El abuso sexual infantil produce consecuencias devastadoras a la víctima por toda la vida.
Como podemos ayudar?

Todos podemos hacer el compromiso hoy. Cualquier persona puede denunciar el abuso infantil a la policía o a una agencia de protección infantil. Si todos nos comprometemos en cuidar a los niños de nuestras comunidades y reportar abusos o comportamientos sospechosos, los niños estarán más seguros.
Por favor, hoy tomarás el compromiso?

Si, prometo proteger a los niños!! Voy a observar a todos los niños de mi iglesia como si se tratara de mi propio hijo, e inmediatamente comunicaré a las autoridades si sospecho de algún abuso, no importa cuando se haya producido.

Usted puede reportar el abuso a través de: http://www.pledgetoprotectkids.org/
O puede enviar este formulario lleno:
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, PO Box 6416, Chicago, IL 60680-6416

Nombre (opcional) _____________________________________________________________________

Ciudad y Estado________________________________________________________________________

Número de teléfono (opcional)____________________Email(opcional)__________________________

Gracias por hacer el mundo mas seguro para los niños!

Llama gratis: 1-877-SNAPHEALS (1-877-762-7432)

snapecuador@hotmail.com

http://www.snapnetwork.org/PDF_files/Flyer_para_Evento_Abril_2011.doc

==========

As Pope is honored in Rome, victims outside churches in 70 cities, 7 countries

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2011_press_releases/043011_as_pope_is_honored_in_rome_victims_outside_churches_in_70_cities_7_countries.htm

As Pope is honored in Rome, group hands out leaflets

“Outreach & Prevention” events will be held in seven countries

Victims and supporters ask Catholics & citizens to sign child safety pledge

In 70 cities on this weekend, they’ll talk with parishioners outside churches

WHAT:
As a deceased Pope is honored by thousands in Rome, hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers to church-goers in seven countries and 70 cities, urging them to sign a pledge to report suspicions of child sex abuse to secular authorities.

WHEN: Saturday, Apr 30 and Sunday, May 1, (Times listed with each City Below)

WHERE: Address listed with each City below

WHO: At least Two-three clergy sex abuse victims (at each event) who belong to a Chicago-based international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

DETAILS
While Catholics throng in Rome celebrating Pope John Paul II’s latest step toward sainthood, hundreds of child sex abuse victims will leaflet outside churches in seven countries and 70 cites. They’ll ask congregants to sign this pledge: “I will watch out for all the children in my church as if they were my own and I will immediately report known or suspected abuse to the authorities, no matter when it occurred.”

It’s available on line at www.pledgetoprotectkids.org

The group calls the fast-tracking of pontiff’s sainthood “a callous PR juggernaut honoring the man who presided over much of the on-going crisis.” The events are designed to “help keep kids safer and redirect some people’s energies into stopping child sex crimes and cover ups” “and “give upset parishioners, concerned parents and caring victims a productive outlet this weekend for both their outrage and their compassion.”

SNAP says that Vatican officials are “deepening the suffering of so many, by elevating a man who did almost nothing to stop bishops from ignoring and concealing heinous crimes.”

A full list of the cities and times of the leafleting events are posted at SNAPnetwork.org.

The countries include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ecuador, France, Netherlands, and the USA.

The American states include: CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, ID, IL, IN, KY, MA, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV.

And the cities include: Albany, NY; Antwerpen (Antwerp)Belgium; Arden, NC; Arlington, VA; Asheville, NC; Athens, OH; Belleville, IL; Bellflower, CA; Boston, MA; Brisbane, Australia; Brugge (Bruges), Belgium; Camden, NJ; Candler, NC; Charleston, WV; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Corpus Christi, TX; Costa Mesa, CA; Covington, KY; Cuenca, Ecuador; Dayton, OH; Denver, CO; Detroit (St. Clair Shores), MI; Eureka, CA; Idaho Falls, ID; Indianapolis, IN; Kansas City, MO; La Crosse, WI; Longwood, FL; Los Angeles, CA; Metuchen, NJ; Midland, MI; Newark, NJ; New York, NY; Norwich, CT; Oakland, CA; Ontario, CA; Orlando, FL; Paris, France; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Quito, Ecuador; Rockford, IL; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Francisco, CA; Santa Maria, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO; Steubenville, OH; Swannanoa NC; Sydney, Australia; Toledo, OH; Utrecht, Netherlands; Wheeling, WV; Wilmington, DE; Winter Park, FL; Youngstown, OH

Regardless of what the Catholic hierarchy does or doesn’t do, SNAP says that many victims will continue working hard to expose corruption, protect others, reform laws, warn parents and keep healing.

CONTACT
Melanie Sakoda 925-708-6175, melanie@pokrov.org, Tim Lennon 415-312-5820 (cell) sflennon@gmail.com,
Barbara Blaine 312 399 4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com,
David Clohessy 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


AUSTRALIA

New South Wales

Sydney NSW
Diocese of Sydney
St Mary's Cathedral
Gathering at Hyde Park, College Street, near the Archibald Fountain
May 1, 2011, 12:00-4:00 PM
Contact: Nicky Davis, Mark Fabbro
Email: nicky@nickydavis.com.au, survivorsclergy@gmail.com
Cell: 61+ 2 0422 538 440, 61+ 2 0411 390 850

Queensland

Brisbane QLD
Anglican Diocese of Brisbane
Cathedral Square
May 1, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30 PM
Contact: Sylvia Blayse
Email: editme09@gmail.com
Cell: 0457 151567

België (Belgique)/ BELGIUM

Antwerpen (Antwerp)
Diocese Antwerpen (Antwerp)
OLV Kathedraal Antwerpen (Cathedral of Notre Dame, Antwerp)
Handschoenmarkt
April 30, 2011, 3:30 PM
Contact: Lieve Halsberghe SNAP Belgium, Peter Saunders, NAPAC
Email: SNAPBelgium@gmail.com, peter@napac.org.uk
Cell: +32 475 910 918, +44 7977 975402

Brugge (Bruges)
Diocese Brugge (Bruges)
Basiliek H. Bloed (Basilica of the Holy Blood)
Burg 15
April 30, 2011, 11:15 AM
Contact: Lieve Halsberghe SNAP Belgium, Peter Saunders, NAPAC
Email: SNAPBelgium@gmail.com, peter@napac.org.uk
Cell: +32 475 910 918, +44 7977 975402

ECUADOR

Provincia Azuay

Cuenca, Provincia Azuay
Arquidiósecis de Cuenca
Catedral Metropolitana
Calle Benigno Malo y Mariscal Sucre
May 1, 2011, 10:00 AM and 12:00PM
Contact: María Palacios, Tatiana Palacios Hernández
Email: tattyelizabeth@hotmail.com
Cell: 593 9 8318324

Provincia Pichincha

Quito, Provincia Pichincha
Diósecis La Dolorosa
San Gabriel
Mariana de Jesus y Av. de la Prensa
May 1, 2011, 9:30 AM
Contact: Tatiana Palacios Hernández
Email: tattyelizabeth@hotmail.com
Cell: 593 9 8318324

FRANCE

Paris
Diocese Paris
Catthédrale Notre Dame de Paris
6, Parvis Notre Dame - Place Jean Paul II
May 1, 2011, 11:30 AM
Contact: Lieve Halsberghe SNAP Belgium, Peter Saunders, NAPAC, Isabelle Aubrey, AIVI,
Email: SNAPBelgium@gmail.com, peter@napac.org.uk, contact@aivi.org
Cell: +32 475 910 918, +44 7977 975402, +33 6 83 23 46 72

Paris
Diocese Paris
Jardin des Tuileries (moving to Place du Louvre and Centre Pompidou)
May 1, 2011, 2:00 PM
Contact: Lieve Halsberghe SNAP Belgium, Peter Saunders, NAPAC, Isabelle Aubrey, AIVI,
Email: SNAPBelgium@gmail.com, peter@napac.org.uk, contact@aivi.org
Cell: +32 475 910 918, +44 7977 975402, +33 6 83 23 46 72

NETHERLANDS

Utrecht
Archdiocese of Utrecht
St. Catharina Church
Lange Nieuwstraat 36 Utrecht
May 1, 2011, Time: 12:00 PM
Contact: Bert Smeets
Email: info@bertsmeets.nl
Cell: 0031 (0) 6 25 26 20 36

USA

Read the complete list here

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2011_press_releases/043011_as_pope_is_honored_in_rome_victims_outside_churches_in_70_cities_7_countries.htm

==========

Friday, April 29, 2011

SNAP blasts beatification of Pope John Paul II

Statement by Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP

Little can be done by Catholic officials to erase the pain of hundreds of thousands of deeply wounded men, women and children who have been sexually assaulted by clergy. But the church hierarchy CAN avoid rubbing more salt into these wounds by slowing down their hasty drive to confer sainthood on the pontiff under whose reign most of the countless, widely-documented clergy sex crimes and cover ups took place.

In more than 25 years as the most powerful religious figure on the planet, John Paul II did almost nothing to safeguard kids across the world. He repeatedly and effectively brought his unparalleled global influence to bear on other crucial issues but ignored or promoted stunningly complicit church officials. Church officials can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to want victims to heal, while paying massive tribute to a man whom evidence shows turned a blind eye for decades to child sex crimes and elevated corrupt clerics like Cardinal Bernard Law.

When we honor those who enable or conceal wrong-doing, we essentially condone wrong-doing.

Recklessness, callousness and deceit in clergy sex cases will continue unless the church hierarchy begins to penalize, not reward, such irresponsible behavior.

The church hierarchy eventually, when forced, often suspends proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesters. But in only a handful of cases, has the hierarchy ever disciplined a corrupt bishop. It’s even more disturbing, however, when the hierarchy honors one of its own with a dismal track record on the most devastating crisis the church has faced in modern times. A doctor's first duty is to do no harm. That should be the first duty of church officials too, especially in an institution with such a horrific history of committing, ignoring and concealing heinous child sex crimes. So on that basis alone, beatifying John Paul II shouldn't be considered, much less "fast-tracked." Why exacerbate such widespread pain among wounded victims and disillusioned Catholics?

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 10,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

Fr. Marcial Maciel's Swiss Bank accounts: Angelo Sodano with Carlos Slim´s help has set his nephew up in business with a swiss registered company

During these years I have gathered information on the Legion here in Chile. Every law in the book concerning canon law has been broken. Father O reilly was taking huge cash cheques from the Chilean version of Carlos Slim,Ricardo Claro.Copies of these were sent to Cardenal Errazuriz.He did nothing. All the people continue in their positions. It is a monster of a beast,the legion supported by billions and billions of dollars and only God is capable of fighting against it.The 25 billion in Luxembourg is set up as Grupo Integer. Their schools and universities have been set up as ñimited companies rather than property of the Legion which makes them de facto outside of the Church´s jurisdiction.??????. Sodano got them in to Chile and help to establish one of the biggest Mafia operations in existence,Where have they entrenched themselves Mexico and Chile.Why?They are two of the most corrupt nations on earth.All the money is owned by big catholic or so called families and so Marciel and Sodano knew that they could take complete control and nobody could touch them. Angelo Sodano with Carlos Slim´s help has set his nephew up in business with a swiss registered company.I think you will find that the church will not be able to get its hands on the 25 billion euros. I eventually after three years of trying got a list of the names of the shareholders who own the Legions schools here in Chile. The Matte family,papermill owners,the Bezanilla family largest construction company,The Rabat Family,The Claro Family,telecommunications and the largest shipping company.It is the biggest abuse of power and money that I have ever seen. They have all helped and protected each other.

In the 1990´s the New York Times was on its knees finacially .Who saved them?Carlos Slim lent them 240 million dollars.Last weeek prompted by Sodano´s call he called in a favoour,He verbally attempted to destroy our honest Holñy Father.I feel for him-I have felt the power of the LEGION and can only imagine what he has had to face.

I have a small factory in Thailand.Last year when I found out that Marciel was a frequent visitor I was able to ascertain via the Thai police his movements in and out of Thailand.He had a penchant for groups of 7 and 8 year olds.He entered not alone but in the company of others.Last week the LEGION relaesed their sttement that they were truly sorry and they knew of none of the founder´s sins.A complete and utter lie.

They have known all along. Sanctimonious hypocrites

The question must be asked that with Marciel as predatory as he obviously is,who of his close circle is also a peadophile and that needs to be answred today not tomorrow for the sake of innocent young people

http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=354582&sid=d925a05b9d2d1335ed5029660a192b17

The latest revelations concern the financial benefits Cardinal Sodano received from Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the corrupt conman who founded the Legion of Christ and its associated lay group, Regnum Christi. And those revelations follow hard on the 2008 convictions of Raffaello Follieri for wire fraud and money laundering. (Follieri’s company, you’ll remember, was trading in decommissioned church property, and it relied for its crimes on the prestige of having Cardinal Sodano’s nephew as its vice president.) That news, in turn, followed the cardinal’s reported role in thwarting a 1995 investigation into the subsequently proved accusations against the episcopal molester in Vienna, Hans Hermann Groër.

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/roddreher/2010/05/cardinal-sodano-should-walk-the-plank.html#ixzz1MlzpkOoG

Sodano, the former secretary of state and now dean of the College of Cardinals, and Martínez Somalo, former papal chamberlain, did not respond to messages left with Lombardi. A receptionist who answered Sodano’s residential number said to call the Vatican. The woman answering Martínez Somalo’s phone, when asked in Spanish if he would speak with a journalist, said emphatically, ” No entrevista! ” — “No interview.”

Had Sodano, Martínez Somalo and Dziwisz responded, the cardinals might have answered one question that hovers over this baroque financial drama: How do Vatican officials decide what to report, and to whom, if they are given large sums of money? The Vatican has no constitution or statutes that would make such transactions illegal. But those familiar with the strategy say it was Maciel’s goal to insulate himself from the Vatican’s archaic system of secret tribunals by making friends with men in power.

For most of his life, it worked.

According to two former Legionaries who spent years in Rome, Maciel paid for the renovation of the residence in Rome for the Argentine cardinal who was prefect of religious from 1976 to 1983, the late Eduardo Francisco Pironio. “That’s a pretty big resource,”

“Therefore, Maciel went to the pope through Msgr. Dziwisz,” said the priest. “Two weeks later Pironio signed it.”

Dziwisz was John Paul’s closest confidante, a Pole who had a bedroom in the private quarters of the Apostolic Palace. Maciel spent years cultivating Dziwisz’s support. Under Maciel, the Legion steered streams of money to Dziwisz in his function as gatekeeper for the pope’s private Masses in the Apostolic Palace.

One of the ex-Legionaries in Rome told NCR that a Mexican family in 1997 gave Dziwisz $50,000 upon attending Mass. “We arranged things like that,” he said of his role as go-between. Did John Paul know about the funds? Only Dziwisz would know.

When Dziwisz became a bishop in 1998, the Legion covered the costs of his reception at its complex in Rome. “Dziwisz helped the Legion in many ways,” said a priest who facilitated payments. “He convinced the pope to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Legion.”
http://reform-network.net/?p=4004


for the Doctrine of the Faith, then under Cardinal. Joseph Ratzinger, requesting a ..... hired Sodano's nephew, Andrea Sodano, as a build- ing consultant. Pontificial Athenaeum Regina ...... him to jail? “And Benedict, he tries to start to make it clean. .... The erosion goes on, at a quicker pace, ugly in details ...
www.spjvideo.org/sdx/sdx10/foreign-cor-nd.pdf

Maciel and Sodano forged a friendship in Chile in the 1980s during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. The Legion needed Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez’s permission to function. Haunted by the regime’s torturing and abducting of people, Silva had a tense relationship with Sodano, who as papal nuncio appeared on TV in support of Pinochet. Several Chilean bishops implored Silva not to admit Maciel’s group, which had a tainted reputation as “millonarios de Cristo” for their obsessions with fundraising. “In a society as polarized as Chile,” Andrea Insunza and Javier Ortega wrote in a book on the Legion in Chile, “the Legionaries found a key ally: the apostolic nuncio, Angelo Sodano.” Silva approved the Legionaries’ presence in Chile.

Glenn Favreau, a Washington, D.C., attorney and former Legionary in Rome, said: “Sodano intervened with Italian officials to get zoning variances to build the university” on a wooded plateau of western Rome. Maciel hired Sodano’s nephew, Andrea Sodano, as a building consultant. Pontificial Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum is the name of the complex.

But Legionaries overseeing the project complained to Maciel that Andrea Sodano’s work was late and poorly done; they were reluctant to pay his invoices. To them, Maciel yelled: “Pay him! You pay him!”

Andrea Sodano was paid.

In 2008, a flashy Italian businessman, Raffaello Follieri, was indicted in New York on fraud and money-laundering charges for his business that bought shuttered church properties and parishes for commercial resale. Andrea Sodano was Follieri Group’s vice president. Cardinal Sodano attended the company’s 2004 launch party in New York, accorded to press reports. As NCR reported March 3, 2006, the firm’s literature trumpeted its “deep commitment to the Catholic church and its long-standing relationship with senior members of the Vatican hierarchy.”

After the company secured major backing from billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa development company, Follieri spent wildly on his jet-set romance with movie star Anne Hathaway. As the Follieri-Yucaipa partnership found properties, Follieri sent payments to Andrea Sodano’s office in Italy by bank wire transfer.

Documents obtained by the FBI show that Follieri fabricated backdated invoices from Sodano to justify a two-month flurry of payments in 2005 that Follieri had already obtained from the investors. These included: $75,000 on Aug. 22, for “Engineering Services”; a Sept. 12 invoice for $15,000 for work in Atlantic City, N.J., and $80,000 in Orland Park in the Chicago archdiocese; Oct. 21, for $70,000 in Canyon City (no state given in the invoice); another $50,000 for Orland Park; and $75,000 for unspecified “Engineering Services,” making a tidy $225,000 net on that single day. None of the single-page invoices has a paragraph on work done.

In the weekly conference calls with Burkle’s company, Follieri escalated his request for funds to pay Sodano, stressing that the Vatican needed the engineering reports in order to grant approval for the sales of church property. Yucaipa paid $800,000 to that end, with Follieri providing fabricated, backdated invoices to document payments purportedly made to Andrea Sodano.

On March 8, 2006 — two months before Maciel was banished from the priesthood — Cardinal Sodano sent a letter of complaint to Follieri. “I feel it is my duty to tell you how perturbed I am,” he wrote, “to hear that your company continues to present itself as having ties to ‘the Vatican,’ due to the fact that my nephew, Andrea, has agreed on some occasion to provide you with professional consulting services. I do not know how this distressing misunderstanding could have occurred, but it is necessary now to avoid such confusion in the future. I do, therefore, appeal to your sensibility to be careful with respect to this matter. I shall accordingly inform my nephew Andrea as well as anyone else who has asked me for information regarding your firm. I take this opportunity to send you my regards.”
The letter came just after NCR‘s report by Joe Feuerherd that quoted an unnamed religious order official on Follieri Group saying, “This thing smells.”

As Andrea Sodano was promoting the business, Cardinal Sodano — having lent his sacred office to handshakes and chatting up potential backers at the Follieri Group’s launch — began backpedaling. Follieri had begun bragging to potential investors that he was the chief financial officer of the Vatican. Nevertheless, four months after the cardinal’s letter, Raffaello and Andrea Sodano flew to Latin America on a property-scouting trip. Follieri handed a check for $25,000 to one archbishop and a check for $85,000 to another archbishop. “The recipients of these donations did not know that Follieri had stolen the money to give to them,” states an FBI sentencing memorandum on the Follieri case.

In spring of 2007, Burkle wanted to see the engineering reports. Follieri made a secretary stay up all night writing the reports, which he backdated and disgorged to Burkle’s people.

“The reports were in Italian,” explains FBI agent Theodore Cacioppi. “Each one was about two to five pages long. None of them contained any schematics, technical drawings, diagrams, or anything that appeared to relate to engineering.” The reports “were almost worthless, did not reflect any engineering work, and were certainly not worth over $800,000.”

Burkle’s Yucaipo Companies had its own investors, notably the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the California Teachers’ Retirement Fund and California Public Employees’ Retirement Fund. Yucaipo sued Follieri for $1.3 million. Follieri scrambled to repay the partnership, but was indicted.

On Oct. 23, 2008, he pleaded guilty to 14 counts of wire fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy, and is now serving 54 months in a federal prison.

“We believe Studio Sodano [Andrea's corporate name] took in fraudulently earned money,” stated Cacioppi. “We considered these people unindicted co-conspirators.”
Cacioppi continued, “We did not need to put those people on the stand. We did get intimations from the State Department that they were not inclined to talk with us. As a matter of resource allocation it was not worth trying to get them.”
Andrea Sodano was safely back in Italy at the time of Follieri’s arrest. The government document that accuses him of receiving payments also says that the Vatican itself received “donations” from Follieri’s scam, an assertion that raises a question about Cardinal Sodano’s judgment. What explains his trust in a flimflam man like Follieri?

The government sentencing memorandum on Follieri by the U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, further explained: “Follieri created the false impressions that he had ties to the Vatican, which enabled him to obtain church properties at below-market values, through his relationship with Andrea Sodano, the nephew (“Nephew”) of the then-Secretary of State of the Vatican Cardinal Angelo Sodano … and making unauthorized donations to the Vatican with investor money. Follieri misused investor funds to pay the Nephew for ‘engineering’ services that the Nephew never performed so that the Nephew could travel with Follieri when visiting church officials and help Follieri obtain access to the grounds of the Vatican. It was through this connection that Follieri was able to attend one of the Pope’s services and, along with many others, get his picture taken with the Pope … show the private gardens of the Vatican to Follieri’s friends and associates, and arrange for guided tours of a museum at the Vatican.”

The sentencing memorandum continues: “Follieri also falsely represented that he needed over $800,000 to pay for the engineering reports prepared by the Nephew. Follieri claimed that the Vatican needed to review these engineering reports before Vatican could make any decision about whether to sell the properties to Follieri.”
While Follieri found a friend in Andrea Sodano, Maciel had found one in Andrea’s uncle, the cardinal. But Maciel’s resource allocation ran into problems with the building of the university, Regina Apostolorum. He was hungry for Vatican approval for the highest level of recognition as a full pontifical academy, to put the freshly minted university on equal footing with the much older Lateran and Gregorian universities in Rome. To secure that standing, sources told NCR, the Legion in 1999 offered a Mercedes Benz to the late Cardinal Pio Laghi, who was prefect of Congregation for Catholic Education (and former papal ambassador to the United States). Appalled, Laghi rejected the offer, according to a priest who witnessed the exchange.

Laghi’s successor, Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, refused the authorization too. Cardinal Sodano secured a status below the prestigious level Maciel and the Legion had sought.

How Maciel built his empire. Secrets of his empire http://www.spjvideo.org/sdx/sdx10/foreign-cor-nd.pdf

Top Worst Sins and Crimes of Popes in History

John Paul II was pope for 27 years surpassing all these worst popes combined in years, powers and wealth of the Vatican Bank and all the modern means of travel and media manipulation controls but John Paul II sat at the Chair of Peter overseeing with his Holy See the 20th Century's most heinous crimes against hundreds of thousands of children victims of the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by thousands of the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists -Priests Army - the most original papal sins and mainly against children- of all top papal sins in the 2,000 years history of Christianity.

Here are the top worst sins and crimes of popes in history. Let us start with the 21st Century with Benedict XVI and the 20th Century with John Paul II.

Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI's Crimes Against Humanity have been filed at the Hague, the International Court of Law, the first ever that a sitting pope is sued at the highest court of the world where despots have been sued and convicted read it here http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/02/criminal-charges-against-dr-joseph.html. The Hague of course is the last recourse of mankind for all the sufferings that Benedict XVI has caused upon children and thousands others because the Vatican is the most powerful institution on earth. Benedict XVI committed the worst crimes against children during his 24 years tenure as the Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when he was the greatest enabler of pedophiles rapists-priests next to John Paul II see video below. There is also an American litigation against him by an American deaf man who was among the 200 deaf boys sexually abused by a priest whom Cardinal Ratzinger personally covered-up read about it here http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-york-times-church-office-failed-to.html

Today the Vatican Bank, of which Benedict XVI is the CEO, is being investigated for money laundering http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/09/vatican-bank-under-investigation-for.html and it is the department where all moneys of religious orders of nuns and priests are deposited -- so we ask our readers and all WYD World Youth Day young men and women not to buy expensive statues of John Paul II and other John Paul II medals and souvenirs but to donate instead to the Red Cross and secular charities where laypeople are involved in the fields and are unlike the Pope and his men who live in the fortress and ivory tower of the Vatican Palace see the statues and their prices here http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/narcissism-and-grandiosity-of-john-paul.html

Benedict XVI is abusing his papal powers by hastily beatifying John Paul II only six years after JP2's death and this is his worst pathological lie as a pope of the 21st century.

Benedict XVI also misleads people as he imitates Eve and blame the Devil for the existence of thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests of the 20th century read Analysis of Pope’s homily in Year for Priests -sorcerers of Christ’s flesh and blood http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/06/eve-and-benedict-xvi-blame-devil.html



Look closely at these natural evil eyes of Benedict XVI.

Benedict XVI has a very effeminate (old woman) voice that's because he is GAY.

John Paul II was very ugly in his last 7 years as pope. God allowed him to become so ugly, and he could barely speak or write, as ugly as Lucifer he could be. At the end he took his own life by committing euthanasia so he could die at the Vatican as John Paul II the Great read Why John Paul II is Opus Dei's Patron Saint: analysis of conference at Holy Cross Pontifical University in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html

The Nazis of Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church of Benedict XVI they both burn human beings in Auschwitz and in Hell http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/02/nazis-of-hitler-and-roman-catholic.html

Follow Benedict XVI's story here in our weblog Benedict XVI Ratzinger: God`s Rottweiler http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/




Benedict XVI


Real Cross of Pedophilia



500,000 children abused by Catholic church



Pope falls asleep because of pedophiles




Caricatures of John Paul II and Ratzinger by Court Jones,
http://freethinker.co.uk/2011/04/24/pope-ratzinger-talks-himself-hoarse-spouting-bull-over-the-easter-period/


John Paul II

John Paul II had the longest papacy of 27 years in history and not once did he speak up against pedophile priests hence the 6,000 pedophile priests in the USA and thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests in Europe and around the world are named aptly after him as the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army read the statistics here http://jp2army.blogspot.com/

The John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army were (like the Nazis) born out of the Devil’s bowels an inherently evil all-male hierarchy who thrived under secrecy and cover-up of the 27 years pedophiliac papacy of John Paul II the Great who said and DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO STOP this Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions under his Holy See watch and infallible papal powers. IN LIFE, JOHN PAUL II DID NOTHING TO SAVE CHILDREN, LIKEWISE IN DEATH, HE CANNOT SAVE CHILDREN. Heil Satanas John Paul II.

Read The narcissism and grandiosity of John Paul II, Cardinal Bernard Law, Benedict XVI, and Bishop Roger Vangheluwe are nauseating and despicable http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/narcissism-and-grandiosity-of-john-paul.html

Read Mary versus John Paul II and the pathological lie of the Totus Tuus Marie of John Paul II http://stella0maris.blogspot.com/

Read the Prayer to John Paul II: the saint of pedophiles and pederasts, rapists and abusers of children http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/prayer-to-john-paul-ii-saint-of.html

Holy Heist! John Paul II WYD had no role with Arab youths who liberated Egypt from Mubarak who stole then deposited billions into Vatican Swiss Banks http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/02/holy-heist-john-paul-ii-wyd-had-no-role.html

Why John Paul II is Opus Dei's Patron Saint: analysis of conference at Holy Cross Pontifical University in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html

John Paul II was the most corrupt pope in history because he traveled around the world courting billions of dollars for the Vatican Swiss Banks as in this video with the dictator and murderer Pinochet of Chile - John Paul II was therefore cohort with dictators and mass murderers like Pinochet - read Top Worst Sins and Crimes of Popes in History http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-worst-sins-and-crimes-of-popes-in.html.



Sins and crimes are not synonymous. Sinners and criminals are not one and the same http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/sins-and-crimes-are-not-synonymous.html


Benedict XVI has no power to say « Let there be God » in the Eucharist just like he has no power to say « Let there be light » in Genesis http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/12/benedict-xvi-has-no-power-to-say-let.html

Benedict XVI and Georg his GAY Private Secretary are GAYS.!.http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/07/benedict-xvi-and-georg-his-gay-private.html

Benedict XVI and Georg his GAY Private Secretary are GAYS.!. http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/06/benedict-xvis-handsome-private.html



Danish cartoonist (of Mohammed) drew this image of http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifJohn Paul II with inscription "I am against homosexuality but for pedophilia". http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html Read the vision of Paris Arrow on how Saint Michael the Archangel tied the giant millstone on John Paul II's neck at his last WYD in 2002 -- in the John Paul II Millstone post August 1, 2006. John Paul II's neck broke and Saint Michael threw him into a raging sea of fire... The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for (enough) good men -http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and good women - to do (and say) nothing. Youths of today, do not be deceived by the pathological lies of the Pope and the Vatican. The Vatican own the Swiss Banks where all moneys from corrupt regimes are hidden and poor peoples and poor countries are therefore perpetually oppressed....http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif


John Paul II is the Sun as the Infallible Most Powerful Pope of the Catholics with seven rays of the 7 Sacraments, he is in his white papal uniform and his two papal hands pulls up the children`s robes because he enabled and allowed thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests to go on freely sodomizing and raping little boys (and girls) during his longest reigning papacy of 26 years, together with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger his right-hand man as Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html.

So here we show in pictures how John Paul II contrast with Mary who like Rachel weeps for her thousands of little boys (and girls) who were sodomized by the «John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army see our sister weblog http://jp2army.blogspot.com/


This is the image of the woman as the sun Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children and holding a child up high away from the snares and snatches of the Serpent while John Paul II gave countless thousands of little boys to the Serpent of Sodomy to be sodomized and raped by his John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army for over 26 years during his glorious papacy as John Paul II the Great



Mexico mounts a worldwide campaign against the beatification of John Paul II, they should for they are the people of Ouhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr Lady of Guadalupe http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/01/mexico-mounts-worldwide-campaign.html

Canon Law and John Paul II, the Vatican & Benedict XVI never saved children nor excommunicated pedophile priests during last quarter of 20th Century http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/07/canon-law-andhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif-john-paul-ii-vatican.html

From Fatima, Jacinta would throw the first stone at John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army‏ to defend her little brothers and sisters http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-fatima-jacinta-would-throw-first.html

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army expands into Ireland &John Paul is elevated as "Venerable"... only in the Catholic Church are criminals glorified http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-paul-ii-pedophile-priests-army.html

John Paul II did not have the charity of Mother Teresa http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-paul-ii-did-not-have-charity-of.html
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif


Vision of Paris Arrow : St. Michael the Archangel tied a giant millstone to John Paul II's neck at World Youth Day in 2002 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html




Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 6,000 rapists-priests - John Paul II, Benedict XVI & Opus Dei --- The Vatican Trinity: Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and therefore Opus Dei was most responsible for the cover-up and aiding and abetting the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army





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Top 10 Worst Popes in History

http://www.oddee.com/item_96537.aspx


1. Pope Stephen VI: had his predecessor exhumed, tried, de-fingered, and thrown to the river

Stephen VI was Pope from 896 to 897. Fueled by his anger with Pope Formosus, his predecessor, he exhumed Formosus's rotting corpse and put "him" on trial, in the so-called "Cadaver Synod" in January, 897.

With the corpse propped up on a throne, a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for receiving the pontificate while he was the bishop of Porto, among other revived charges that had been leveled against Formosus in the strife during the pontificate of John VIII.

The corpse was found guilty, stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of three fingers of its right hand (the blessing fingers), clad in the garb of a layman, and quickly buried; it was then re-exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. All ordinations performed by Formosus were annulled.



Pope Stephen VI

The trial excited a tumult. Though the instigators of the deed may actually have been Formosus' enemies of the House of Spoleto (notably Guy IV of Spoleto), who had recovered their authority in Rome at the beginning of 897 by renouncing their broader claims in central Italy, the scandal ended in Stephen's imprisonment and his death by strangling that summer. Talk about bad Popes.


2. Pope Benedict IX: the Pope who sold the papacy



Pope Benedict IX

Benedict IX was Pope from 1032 to 1044, again in 1045, and finally from 1047 to 1048, the only man to have served as Pope for three discontinuous periods, and one of the most controversial Popes of all time. Benedict gave up his papacy for the first time in exchange for a large sum of money in 1044. He returned in 1045 to depose his replacement and reigned for one month, after which he left again, possibly to marry, and sold the papacy for a second time, to his Godfather (possibly for over 650 kg /1450 lb of gold). Two years later, Benedict retook Rome and reigned for an additional one year, until 1048. Poppo of Brixen (later to become Pope Damascus II) eventually forced him out of Rome. Benedict’s place and date of death are unknown, but some speculate that he made further attempts to regain the Papal Throne. St. Peter Damian described him as “feasting on immorality” and “a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest” in the Liber Gomorrhianus, a treatise on papal corruption and sex that accused Benedict IX of routine homosexuality and bestiality.



3. Pope Sergius III: ordered the murder of another pope and started the "pornocracy"



Sergius III was Pope from 897 to 911, and has been the only pope known to have ordered the murder of another pope and the only known to have fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope; his pontificate has been described as "dismal and disgraceful." The pontificate of Sergius III was remarkable for the rise of what papal historians call a "pornocracy," or rule of the harlots, a reversal of the natural order as they saw it, according to Liber pontificalis and a later chronicler who was also biased against Sergius III. This "pornocracy" was an age with women in power: Theodora, whom Liutprand characterized as a "shameless whore... [who] exercised power on the Roman citizenry like a man" and her daughter Marozia, the mother of Pope John XI (931–935) and reputed to be the mistress of Sergius III


4. Pope John XII: raped female pilgrims and invoked pagan gods



John XII was Pope from 955 to 964. On 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I summoned a council, levelling charges that John had ordained a deacon in a stable, consecrated a 10-year-old boy as bishop of Todi, converted the Lateran Palace into a brothel, raped female pilgrims in St. Peter's, stolen church offerings, drank toasts to the devil, and invoked the aid of Jove, Venus, and other pagan gods when playing dice. He was deposed, but returned as pope when Otto left Rome, maiming and mutilating all who had opposed him. On 964, he was apparently beaten by the husband of a woman with which he was having an affair, dying three days later without receiving confession or the sacraments.

5. Pope Leo X: sold indulgences, killed cardinals



Leo X was Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 theses.

According to Alexandre Dumas, "under his pontificate, Christianity assumed a pagan character, which, passing from art into manners, gives to this epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the moment disappeared, to give place to vices; but to charming vices, vices in good taste, such as those indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus." When he became Pope, Leo X is reported to have said to his brother Giuliano: “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.”

His extravagance offended not only people like Martin Luther, but also some cardinals, who, led by Alfonso Petrucci of Siena, plotted an assassination attempt. Eventually, Pope Leo found out who these people were, and had them followed. The conspirators died of “food poisoning.” Some people argue that Leo X and his followers simply concocted the assassination charges in a moneymaking scheme to collect fines from the various wealthy cardinals Leo X detested.



6. Pope Alexander VI: nepotism, orgies and the rise of the Borgia family



Pope Alexander VI

Alexander VI was Pope from 1492 to 1503. He is the most controversial of the secular popes of the Renaissance, and his surname (Italianized as Borgia) became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era. Originally Cardinal Borgia from Spain, Pope Alexander's claims to fame were taking over much of Italy by force with the help of his son Cesare (yes, his son), a racy relationship with his daughter Lucrezia (some say her son was his), and his affinity for throwing large parties, bordering on orgies, that usually culminated with little naked boys jumping out of large cakes.

7, Pope Innocent IV: introduced torture on the Inquisition



Innocent IV was Pope from 1243 to 1254. Certainly the Inquisition represents the darkest of Roman Church history, and it was Innocent IV who approved the use of torture to extract confessions of heresy. He aggressively applied the principle that “the end justifies the means.” It is shocking to learn about the deranged instruments of torture that were used on so many innocent people. One of the most famous people to suffer at the hands of Roman inquisitors was Galileo. The church condemned Galileo for claiming that the earth revolved around the sun.

8. Pope Urban VI: complained he did not hear enough screaming when his Cardinals were tortured




Pope Urban VI

Urban VI was Pope from 1378 to 1389. He was the first Pope of the Western Schism (which ultimately lead to three people claiming the Papal throne at the same time). Once elected, he was prone to outbursts of rage. The cardinals who elected him decided that they had made the wrong decision and they elected a new Pope in his place, so he took the name of Clement VII and started a second Papal court in Avignon, France. Later he would launch a program of violence against those he thought to have been conspiring against him, imprisoning people at will and mistreating them brutally. Later historians have considered seriously that he might have been insane.

The second election threw the Church into turmoil. There had been antipopes, rival claimants to the papacy, before, but most of them had been appointed by various rival factions; in this case, the legitimate leaders of the Church themselves had created both popes. The conflict quickly escalated from a church problem to a diplomatic crisis that divided Europe. Secular leaders had to choose which pope they would recognize. The schism was repaired forty years later when all three of the (then) reigning Popes abdicated together and a successor elected in the person of Pope Martin V.

9. Pope John XV: split the church's finances among his relatives
Pope John XV



John XV was Pope from 985 to 996. The Pope's venality and nepotism had made him very unpopular with the citizens, as he split the church's finances among his relatives and was described as "covetous of filthy lucre and corrupt in all his acts."




10. Pope Clement VII: his power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked

Clement VII was Pope from 1523 to 1534. A member of the powerful Medici family, Clement VII possessed great political and diplomatic skills - but he lacked the understanding of the age necessary to cope with the political and religious changes he faced. His relationship with Emperor Charles V was so bad that, in May 1527, Charles invaded Italy and sacked Rome.

Imprisoned, Clement was forced into a humiliating compromise which forced him to give up a great deal of secular and religious power. Eventually, Clement became ill and never recovered. He died on September 25, 1534, hated by the people of Rome, who never forgave him for the destruction of 1527.

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10 Worst Popes in History

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-worst-popes-in-history.php

In the two thousand years since Christ walked the earth and founded one of the most influential religions in the world, church history has been documented by an incredibly diverse collection of stories that speak to mankind of blessings, curses, and everything in between. Millions have found hope because of Christianity – but millions have also been slaughtered in the name of God.

Starting with St. Peter, the world has seen a total of 265 official popes. While many of the holy fathers have indeed shown themselves to be saintly men worthy of trust and respect, there are a few whose names must go down in the archives of infamy, because they chose to hold the things of the world above the things of God. Others, while not as blatantly wicked, simply made bad choices that adversely affected the people they were supposed to be saving.

The life stories of these popes now serve to illustrate the sinful side of human nature and remind us that even God’s own representative can lose his way. Here are ten of those stories, revealing some of the most power-hungry, sexually immoral, and ungodly men that have ever held the papacy – the worst popes.


10. Pope Boniface VIII (c. 1235 – 1303)

Born to a minor noble family in Anagni, Italy, Benedetto Caetani became a successful student of canon law and later a member of the Roman Curia, eventually winning the position of cardinal priest in 1291. He was elected Pope Boniface VIII on December 24, 1294 after the pious yet incompetent Pope Celestine V abdicated (possibly due to Boniface’s own insistence). One of his first decisions as pope was to sentence Celestine to prison in the Castle of Fumone, where the old man was mistreated and eventually died ten months later.

Boniface quickly became one of the church’s strongest advocates for papal supremacy in both spiritual and civil matters, involving himself in foreign affairs to no end. His desire for political domination, of course, did not sit well with many rulers of the day, such as Philip IV of France, whose policies of clerical taxation angered the pope and prompted a string of bulls culminating in the famous Unam Sanctam, which essentially claimed all civil and spiritual authority for the papacy.

Other famous clashes include Boniface’s feud with the powerful Colonna family, which led to several of their towns being demolished – Palestrina, for example, was razed to the ground and 6,000 citizens were killed. In addition, Boniface aroused the anger of Dante Alighieri, whose portrayal of the pope in his Inferno is anything but kindly, since he places Boniface in the eighth circle of his imaginary hell.

Boniface never quite attained to the absolute power he craved. Not surprisingly, his insatiable ambition led directly to a brutal beating at the hands of those who refused to submit to him, and within a month of this incident he was dead.


9. Pope Leo X (1475 – 1521)

Often associated with Martin Luther and the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation, Pope Leo X is also well-known for being one of the most lavish, uncontrollable spenders who ever headed the Christian church. A famous phrase attributed to Leo aptly illustrates his greatest priority: “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.” According to Alexandre Dumas, “Christianity assumed a pagan character” as Leo doggedly pursued worldly pleasures.

Born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, Leo came from a powerful family and enjoyed early favors that helped him acquire the papal throne by the time he was 37. A patron of the arts, education, and charity, Leo certainly deserves to be recognized for elevating the church’s status, but his preference for money and political advancement rapidly exhausted the treasury. So financially unstable did his position become that he was eventually forced to pawn off furniture, jewels, and statues from the palace, as well as borrow huge sums of money from creditors (who were ultimately ruined when he died).

In addition to living a life of splendor, Leo practiced nepotism, famously used the sale of indulgences to finance the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica, and was even accused of homosexuality. In fact, some sources hold that he died in bed while getting it on with a youth. That accusation may or may not be true, of course, but one thing is for sure: Leo certainly let his love of luxury get the best of him.

8. Pope Clement VI (1291 – 1352)

Pierre Roger, a Frenchman, was the fourth of the Avignon popes, and took the name Clement VI for his pontificate. He was not a particularly evil man; in fact, his efforts during the Black Plague did much to provide refuge for the Jews, who automatically became the scapegoats for the deadly breakout. Described as a fine gentleman, a prince, and a patron of the arts and learning, Clement lacked one important characteristic that is rightly expected of popes – saintliness.

By his own words, Clement was “a sinner among sinners.” His love for expensive living quickly drained the savings of his frugal predecessor (Benedict XII), and Clement resorted to raising taxes and selling off bishoprics to finance his worldly pursuits.

Throw in a little nepotism to boot, and you’ve got yourself a pope who may very well have been a man of decent character, but who also used his powerful position for his own sexual adventures, cheerful pleasures, and overall celebration of the world’s many vices.


7. Pope Urban II (ca. 1035 – 1099)

It’s undeniable that Otho de Lagery, who became Pope Urban II in 1088, was a talented diplomat and successful leader, responsible for establishing the modern Roman Curia and supporting reforms of the clergy. What he is most often remembered for, however, is his unfortunate role in launching a bloody holy war against Muslims that has since come to be known as The First Crusade.

In 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I requested Urban’s aid in fighting off the Turks, who had conquered most of Anatolia. Urban responded favorably by using his remarkable rhetorical skills to preach “Just War” – a holy, God-ordained crusade to liberate the eastern churches and the Holy Land from Muslim rule. By appealing to Catholic anger over the rumored (and often unfairly trumped-up) atrocities committed by the invading Turks, and by guaranteeing remission of sins to those who would participate in the fight, Urban was able to organize a large-scale uprising of piously outraged soldiers of Christ.

The religiously-sanctioned First Crusade, while successful in defeating Muslim forces in Anatolia and the Holy Land, was very costly in terms of casualties. Not only was there a huge loss of lives on both sides, but the horrible offenses committed by enraged Christians against Jews, Muslims, and even members of the “schismatic” Eastern church will always be a bloody stain on the pages of church history.

6. Pope Julius III (1487 – 1555)

Julius_III

Born to a famous Roman jurist, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was elected pope in 1550 as a compromise candidate, and chose the title Julius III. While his early career in the church shows that he was very capable and successful, his papacy is known for being extremely ineffective and undistinguished. For the most part, Julius withdrew to his palace and spent the majority of his time seeing to his own personal pleasures and keeping out of political affairs.

However, it was his relationship with a boy named Innocenzo that tarnished his name more than anything. Julius discovered Innocenzo as a young beggar in Parma before ascending to the pontificate, and he adopted him as his own nephew. When Julius became pope, he elevated Innocenzo to the status of cardinal-nephew and bestowed many gifts and benefices upon him. In fact, the relationship between Julius and Innocenzo showed signs of being much more intimate than normal family ties, and many reports indicate that Julius actually had an extended sexual affair with the young man.


5. Pope Stephen VI (? – 897)

Le Pape Formose et Étienne VII ("Pope Formosus and Stephen VII"), 1870. Note the latter is now called Pope Stephen VI.

Little is known about Pope Stephen VI’s personal life and background, although he was a Roman and the son of a priest named John. The reason his name stands out in church history is because of his involvement in what is perhaps the most bizarre ecclesiastical trial of all time – the Cadaver Synod of January 897.

As the name reveals, this grotesque synod was convened to put a corpse on trial. Stephen ordered it for the sole purpose of passing judgment on the freshly-exhumed body of Formosus, who had held the papacy from 891-96. Due to activities in Bulgaria which compromised his duties as bishop of Porto, Formosus had been excommunicated by then-pope John VIII (872-882), but after John VIII’s death he had reassumed his bishopric in Porto and was elected pope in 891.

Political interests regarding rightful claims to the throne of the Holy Roman Emperor resulted in animosities that created a trickle-down effect and impacted later popes. Stephen VI and the Cadaver Synod are the most famous instance of reactions to Pope Formosus.

While it is not perfectly clear who exactly instigated the trial, the fact of the matter is that Stephen ordered Formosus’s body to be disinterred and seated on a throne in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. A deacon stood next to it to act as its spokesman while Stephen lambasted it with accusations.

The corpse was condemned for transmigrating sees, committing perjury, and acting as bishop after being deposed. As punishment, his body was stripped of its vestments, the three fingers of the right hand used for benedictions were cut off, and all his former ordinations were declared null. The body was then buried, exhumed again, and finally thrown into the Tiber River.


4. Pope Sergius III (? – 911)

The son of a Roman noble and a member of the ultimately unsuccessful faction which opposed the policies of Pope Formosus, Sergius III must chiefly be understood through the biased writings of his enemies, since almost all sympathetic accounts have been destroyed.

Nevertheless, what we do have on Sergius suggests that he didn’t quite measure up to Christian standards for piety. He was accused of ordering the murders of his predecessor Pope Leo V and Antipope Christopher in prison. It is said that his mistress was the young Marozia (later to become a powerful Roman noblewoman), and it was their son who became Pope John XI in 931.

It gets weirder, though. Pope Stephen VI’s infamous Cadaver Synod had been declared void by succeeding popes, but when Sergius came to power, he voiced his displeasure with Formosus by annulling all of his recently reinstated ordinations. There is even a report that Sergius had the corpse of Formosus exhumed, tried, beheaded, and thrown into the Tiber – all over again!

3. Pope Benedict IX (c. 1012 – 1065/85)

Benedict IX, born Theophylactus of Tusculum, is known mainly for two things: 1) he held office on three separate occasions, and 2) he is the only pope who ever sold the papacy (to his own godfather, of all people).

Benedict became pontiff at a very young age, thanks to the political prowess of his father, who had managed to get the papacy reserved ahead of time for his son. With little actual training or preparation that qualified him to act as pontiff, Benedict led a highly immoral life, and was accused of various rapes, adulteries, and murders. According to St. Peter Damian, Benedict was “a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest,” and his carousing eventually caused him to be forcefully expelled from Rome.

Benedict managed to regain his throne, but then – surprise, surprise! – he was sidetracked by a prospective marriage (to his cousin) and sold the papal chair for a significant amount of money to his godfather, a priest who named himself Pope Gregory VI. His later repentance and attempt to resume his position created quite a controversy, forcing the German King Henry III to intervene. Benedict was subsequently excommunicated from the church.

“His life as a pope,” wrote Pope Victor III, “was so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it.”

2. Pope John XII (c. 937 – 964)

Born in Rome, the young Octavianus practically had the papacy handed to him on a silver platter. His father, a patrician of Rome, made the Roman nobles swear an oath that at the next vacancy in the papal seat, Octavianus would be elected. Sure enough, when he was only 18 the reigning pope passed away, and Octavianus was chosen as the successor, taking the name Pope John XII.

Almost everything known about John XII is found in the writings of his enemies, so it’s possible that the accounts we have are factually distorted. Nevertheless, the stories we do have are quite shocking – he was accused of committing many adulteries (even with his own niece), turning the Vatican into a whorehouse, blinding his confessor, castrating and then murdering a subdeacon, invoking demons and foreign gods… the list goes on and on.

Even if some of the reports were falsified, it still appears that John XII made for a pretty bad pope. When we read the account of John’s death that claims he was murdered by a jealous husband whose wife was the object of the pope’s special attention, it’s not too hard to believe it.

1. Pope Alexander VI (1431 – 1503)



The reward for “Baddest Pope Ever” arguably goes to Rodrigo Borgia, who enjoyed the benefits of having an uncle who just happened to be Pope Calixtus III. Thanks to his convenient social status, Borgia passed through the ranks of bishop, cardinal, and vice-chancellor, gaining enormous wealth along the way. In 1492, he was actually able to buy his way into the papacy, defeating two other opponents by means of bribery.

Alexander was so corrupt that his surname eventually became a byword representing the hellishly low papal standards of the time. He sired at least seven different illegitimate children by his mistresses, and didn’t hesitate to reward them with handsome endowments at the church’s expense. When low on finances, he either established new cardinals in return for payments, or he slammed wealthy people with completely fabricated charges, jailed or murdered them for said false charges, and then stole their money.

Not surprisingly, there is very little about Alexander VI that can be considered godly or even lawful. His goals were selfish and ambitious, and the orderly government he initially administered quickly deteriorated until the city of Rome was in a state of complete disrepair. The words spoken by Giovanni de Medici (the future Pope Leo X) after Borgia’s election are telling:

“Now we are in the power of a wolf, the most rapacious perhaps that this world has ever seen. And if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us all.”

Written by Brandt Ketterer