Telling Truth about Benedict's Legacy re: Clerical Sexual Abuse of Minors, and Commentary on Cardinal Pell's Legacy re: Abuse

Adam Horowitz offers one of the best pieces of commentary I've seen on how far too many Catholic journalists and academics have chosen to falsify the legacy of Pope Benedict vis-a-vis the abuse crisis, by claiming that he was somehow a champion of addressing the problem of clerical sexual abuse of minors — when he decidedly was not. 

More Valuable Commentary on Benedict's Poisonous Letter: Part of a Bigger Initiative of Catholic Right, with Bannon at the Very Center

Steve Bannon is on a new crusade to reform the Vatican. Critics say he, and a movement, are using the same playbook that helped President Trump into the White House against @Pontifex. Our report on @OARichardEngel 9pm @MSNBC https://t.co/5hyixHojSW

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) April 12, 2019

Jamie L. Manson, "Pope Benedict explains things to me": 

Ecclesiastical Censure of Tony Anatrella: "All Those Religious Officials with Responsibility to Hear This Case in Paris and Rome Have Known the Facts about Anatrella for at Least Two Decades"

In comments here in the past two days, Sarasi and MarkWilliam both noted that they had not seen news* of the recent censure of the influential French monsignor-psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who has been relieved of clerical duties after church officials decided multiple allegations that he sexually assaulted men coming to him for "reparative" therapy are credible. As I noted in response to both Sarasi and MarkWilliam, I myself saw little news about this in English-language publications when it happened several weeks ago. I knew about the ecclesiastical sanction of Anatrella because a Facebook friend of mine in Montréal shared with me a statement Philippe Lefebvre made when this took place.

"They Put Us in Closets and Do All They Can to Keep Us There": More on the Catholic Erasure of LGBTQ People from the Narrative About Orlando

"Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy takes the rest of the week." - Alice Walker

— Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) June 15, 2016

And now some more resources that focus specifically on the erasure by top Catholic pastoral leaders of queer people from an act of mass murder of queer people:

Robert Mickens on Bread, Circuses, and Dressed-Up Enbalmed Corpses for the Year of Mercy (and John Allen's Counter-Analysis)

Robert Mickens on bread and circuses (and dressed-up enbalmed corpses) for the Year of Mercy:

More Notes on the Vatican's Refusal of the Appointment of the Gay French Ambassador: Who Might Be Doing What to Whom

As I said several days ago when I last spoke about what's being reported re: the French government's appointment of Laurent Stéfanini as ambassador to the Vatican, I don't really like discussions that center on tidbits of gossip traded around in murky corridors of princes' palaces — e.g., in the dark corridors of the Vatican. The whispering, the sordid intrigue, the nastiness, the back-stabbing: if none of this has ever interested me within gay male culture (and there are definitely opaque corners of gay male culture that batten on this kind of activity), why would it interest me in the Vatican?

Gerald Slevin on Pope's Pivot on Rumors of a Vatican Council: Now or Never

In a new posting at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin cites a recent observation by Robert Mickens:

Pope Francis and Synod: Coercive Top-Down Model of Church, or Consensual Bottom-Up Lay-Dominated Model? Recent Analysis Worth Reading

The synod on the family opened in Rome yesterday, and as this gathering begins, journalist Robert Mickens states, in an interview with Ari Shapiro of NPR,

Illinois Catholic Laity Reject Bishops' Lead about Marriage Equality, Robert Mickens on Benedict's Resignation, Rachel Maddow on Hubris and Iraq War

End-of-week news items that I couldn't shoehorn into other postings today, but which strike me as eminently worth paying attention to:

Matters Catholic: Church "Implosion," Cost of Clothing Cardinals, Sociopathic Lack of Empathy of Many Church Leaders, Cost of Anti-Gay Attacks by Hierarchy

A number of very good articles (and a video) today, all having to do with Catholic news stories: Robert Mickens on the implosion of the governing structures of the Catholic church; Fr. Anthony Ruff and Andrea Tornielli on the cost of clothing cardinals; Anthony Foster on the sociopathic lack of empathy of a particular cardinal, Pell in Australia; and Human Rights Campaign on the cost to American Catholics of this campaign cycle's attack on LGBT citizens by Catholic leaders: