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I guess I can add one more entry to the litany of excuses the Roman Catholic Church has proffered for the worldwide scandal which still wracks it, nearly 20 years after it first surged into global view. For some reason, the hierarchs who run the Church, and its defenders and apologists, simply refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing on their part. Instead, they blame the scandal on any number of other agents — and that can be anything other than themselves.
Among the more common bogeymen they rely on, is “the Devil” (aka Satan, Lucifer, etc.). As Reuters reports, at the end of September, no less a Catholic authority than Pope Francis himself blamed the Devil for it (Archive.Is cached article):
The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis says.
In fact, the pope is so convinced that Satan is to blame for the sexual abuse crisis and deep divisions racking the Church that he has asked Catholics around the world to recite a special prayer every day in October to try to beat him back.
“(The Church must be) saved from the attacks of the malign one, the great accuser and at the same time be made ever more aware of its guilt, its mistakes, and abuses committed in the present and the past,” Francis said in a message on Sept. 29.
I blogged about the Pope’s complaint that Satan was dividing his Church back when he said it earlier this year. The prayer Francis wants Catholics to recite daily is:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”
Oh yeah, like that will do something about the scandal. Riiiiiight. Sure. You betcha! St Michael, to the rescue! Forget all about that awful accountability crap, and assisting local authorities in rooting out the abuse and cover-ups, and stuff like that. Why do that, when you can just pray to St Michael to destroy the Devil and make it all magically go away? Eh?
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.
