The innumerable cases of child abuse by catholic priests is an indication of the pervasiveness of paedophilia in the church. The complicity of the church, beginning with the pope, in trying to protect the criminals from law is disgusting. This catholic behaviour is prompting public response, which is to go with the indifference in the West towards the church. The fall in believing flock, shortage of priests and a general decline in christianity in the west is because the church is not able to make a significant difference to people's lives. Whether you would like to call indifference as general liberal hostility is debatable. To me, it sounds more like an attempt to put the church as a victim. But what I definitely would not like to see is any kind of let up in prosecuting the child abuse offenders. This demand does not come from any general position of hostility towards the church but from a secular(in its actual meaning and not as is used in the Indian context) viewpoint. This is not some kind of witchhunt (as practised by the church against pagans). The most catholic of godmen have been involved in child abuse or abetting child abuse. Bring these catholic apostles to justice and let the law take its own course.
As for chindu, I hope it resists from publishing any articles which project the church as a victim of some sort of false propaganda. So far as its coverage on the scandal is concerned, when there was an uproar worldwide about the scandal, chindu dug itself deep in sand. When more and more cases came to light, the news dragged on and there was no end in sight. Then, there was one editorial and a brief mention in the international page. After another long silence, we are beginning to see those articles that are more sympathetic to the church being reproduced in chindu.
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Fiction finds its villains in the Vatican
As for chindu, I hope it resists from publishing any articles which project the church as a victim of some sort of false propaganda. So far as its coverage on the scandal is concerned, when there was an uproar worldwide about the scandal, chindu dug itself deep in sand. When more and more cases came to light, the news dragged on and there was no end in sight. Then, there was one editorial and a brief mention in the international page. After another long silence, we are beginning to see those articles that are more sympathetic to the church being reproduced in chindu.
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Fiction finds its villains in the Vatican
These books, though, draw on a general liberal hostility to Catholicism (because of its opposition to abortion rights and alleged misogyny) and, in the works of Mr. Brown and Mr. Pullman, the Vatican may also be a surrogate for other disgusts.
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Seriously folks... The Hindu is the one paper that has given maximum coverage to the child abuse scandal, getting foreign correspondents to go after it. And you read this op-ed as being pro-Vatican?! Either u guys didn't read it properly or u so expect The Hindu to take a pro-church line that you read that into this article.
While writing this post, I thought a few would get the impression that I am suggesting that this op-ed is pro-vatican. But I thought that "general liberal hostility" is inappropriate to describe the attitude towards the church.
I dont think I am wrong when I say that chindu has given less than fair coverage of the sexual abuse crisis. From what I remember, after N.Ram's editorial, there was another article before this one. Below are some excerpts from that article. To me, that sounded outrageous.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/12/stories/2010041250891300.htm
But the screening also comes amid a complex subplot in the sexual abuse crisis in which defenders of the Pope have sought to associate him with Pope Pius XII and have likened criticism of the Vatican's handling of the sexual abuse crisis to anti-Semitism.
On Good Friday, the preacher of the papal household, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, delivered a sermon in St. Peter's Square, citing a letter that he said was from a Jewish friend who had compared what he called “the violent and concentric attacks against the church” to anti-Semitism, angering both victims and Jewish groups.
In an interview last week, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, denounced what he called “unjust attacks” on the Pope and compared criticism of the church for its handling of sexual abuse to “the offensive against Pius XII for his actions during the last World War.”
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