The unwarranted 'muscle of Brussels' exhibited by Belgian police last Thursday has drawn a personal reaction from the Holy Father himself - and sad to say, whereas the Anglophone MSM had almost virtually ignored the story earlier and the implications of that show of force, now they are all over it because the Pope has reacted, but the tenor of reporting is not that there was anything objectionable in the way the Belgian police carried out what they did but that the Vatican appears to be protesting investigation of the sex abuse claims itself!
Pope says Brussels raids
were carried out in
'surprising and deplorable ways'
Translated from
June 27, 2010
In an unusual Sunday bulletin, the Vatican today released the text of a letter from Pope Benedict XVI to the Primate of Belgium, expressing his sadness over the events on Thursday in Brussels's twin city of Mechelen (Malines).
The following is a translation of the French original:
To my dear Brother,
Mgr André Joseph Léonard,
Archbishop of Mechelen (Malines)-Brussels
President of the Belgian Episcopal Conference
I wish to express to you, dear brother in the Episcopate, and to all the Bishops of Belgium, my closeness and my solidarity in this moment of sadness after raids were carried out, in surprising and deplorable ways, in the Cathedral of Mechelen and in the building where the Belgian episcopate was holding a plenary meeting.
This meeting was supposed to deal, among other things, with aspects regarding the abuse of minors by some members of the clergy. I have myself reiterated many times that these serious cases must be dealt with by civilian and canonical authorities, with reciprocal respect for the specific duties and authonomy of both sides.
In this sense, I hope that justice will take its course while guaranteeing the right of persons and institutions, respect of the victims, and the unprejudiced recognition of those who are committed to work with the system, while rejecting all that could obscure the noble duties that are assigned to each side.
With assurances that I follow the course of the Church in Belgium everyday with prayer, I gladly send you an affectionate Apostlic Blessing.
Vatican City
June 27, 2010 [/DIM}
Belgian newspapers
fan the flames
against the Church
Translated from
June 27, 2010
The court-ordered raids in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels on Thursday were front-page news in Belgian newspapers yesterday.
Most of them, while finding some aspects of the raid 'disporportionate', nonetheless defended the court-ordered actions.
The Dutch-language
De Standaard published a photomontage of the book covers from Dan Brown's novels against a portrait of Cardinal Godfreed Danneels, who was Primate of Belgium for 30 years until his recent retirement.
[Implying, I suppose, that he is as villainous as Dan Brown's arch-villainous Catholic prelates! But wasn't he the liberal darling for three decades? Suddenly, he's a villain to them???? Why don't they sensibly investigate what, if any, were his failures and shortcomings in dealing with sex abuse cases involving his priests and bishops????]
The Flemish-language
De Morgen used inflammatory language, summarizing its take on the raids by the obviously wrong accusation, "Rome excommunicates justice"
[which is not borne out by any facts at all! [*****!(cuss-words) The Belgian authorities did all the aggression, and Rome is the culprit?]
In the French-language newspapers:
Le Soir's headline was "Belgian justice makes the Roman Church tremble"; and in
Le Libre Belgique, "Rupture between the Church and Belgian justice".
Clearly, the Belgian media anticipated the MSM line taken today following the Pope's statement - that the Church is protesting the civilian investigation itself of sex crimes by priests, when clearly everyone has been clear from the start that the protest is against the unwarranted aggression of the Thursday raids.
This is MSM's new point of attack - no matter how obviously false, fallacious and indefensible - against the Church.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/06/2010 19:02]