Rep. King Criticizes Vatican for Criticisms

[Pete C]

Rep. King Criticizes Vatican for Criticisms

Thursday, May 13, 2004



WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman who is Roman Catholic said Thursday the Vatican (search) has no right to criticize the United States for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners because of the Catholic Church's history of abusing children and covering up its actions.

"If there's anyone in the world who has no right to speak on sexual abuse, it's the Vatican," said Rep. Peter King (search), R-N.Y. "This is the height of hypocrisy."

In an interview published Wednesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo described the prisoner abuses as "a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam" and said the scandal would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity.

"The torture? A more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11. Except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves," Lajolo said.

"Whatever the United States has done to prisoners in Iraq (search) is nothing compared to what priests and nuns did to Catholic kids for decades while the Catholic hierarchy covered it up," King said. "Think of the thousands of kids in the U.S. and Ireland who were abused by priests and nuns - you wonder where the Vatican's moral compass is."

King said the U.S. military's investigation into the prison abuses show America has responded admirably to the problem. In contrast, the church has not done enough to fix its own problems or apologize for them, he said.

King can be a little over the top at times. But I have to say that I agree with the basic premise of his argument. But once again, much of what he says and how he says it seemingly blows it way out of proportion.

The timing seems a bit odd.

[tippy]

I thought the criticism was going to be about barring pro-choice Catholics from communion--that made me laugh a lot harder. I wonder how many hypocrites in the Vatican are going without their holy communion. I always thought sacraments were a personal choice...I could see--if you MUST--not permitting a woman who has actually had an abortion from taking communion...like Mormons do to adulterers...but if you haven't done the crime, why should you not be able to take communion for acting like a REAL m'f'in Christian?

[crawjo]

I don't really agree with this. It seems like King is just using the torture scandal to mouth off about the Vatican. Okay, but what does that have to do with the torture? Did the Vatican say anything about the torture that you disagree with? Or is it now the case that the only people or institutions who can comment on such atrocities are people or institutions who have never tried to cover up something wrong that they did? That'd make for a mighty short list.

Crawjo,

I think it's more a frustration about selective criticism. Like I said, the timing is just too oppurtunistic for my tastes.

But I do understand his frustration. The pot calling the kettle black. Unfortunately, that goes on all the time in this world. But as a twist on what you said, if no one spoke out about these kind of things, it'd be awful quiet out there. Wouldn't you agree?