HARROWING details of some 300 cases of alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium have been released by a Church investigator. Peter Adriaenssens, according to the BBC, said cases of abuse, mostly involving minors, had been found in nearly every diocese, and 13 alleged victims had committed suicide. Two-thirds of victims were boys [...]
Continue reading about Child abuse by Catholic priests in Belgium was rife, says new Church report
IN A week in which the Catholic Church put the crime of sex abuse on par with the “crime” of ordinating women, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez described local Catholic leaders as “troglodytes” and “cavemen” and ordered a review of his country’s ties with the Vatican. The Marxist President also challenged the Pope’s authority, saying he [...]
A ROMAN Catholic priest with expensive tastes and a penchant for male escorts was expected yesterday to surrender himself to police in Connecticut, who have been after him ever since the Sacred Heart Church found itself short of $1.3-million. According to this report, to many of his supporters, the Rev Kevin Gray was a humble [...]
ROMAN CATHOLIC documents, according to a report this weekend in the New York Times, reveal that Cardinal Ratzinger – when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – never asserted the authority given to the office as far back as 1922 to investigate sexual abuse cases . For the two [...]
Continue reading about Clerical abuse: more damning evidence emerges against Pope Ratzinger
WRIGGLING like worms on the hook, spokesmen for the Roman Catholic Church have, in recent months, variously blamed the Vatican’s global abuse scandal on the Devil, pornography, secularism, liberalism, immodesty, children themselves, and – of course – same-sex marriage. It seems only E-numbered food additives and the Icelandic volcano have escaped the finger-pointing. But today [...]
Continue reading about Catholic Church’s troubles are entirely of its own making, Ratzinger admits
THAT “seriously offensive” memo leaked this weekend from the Foreign Office has plunged the Pope’s visit to Britain in jeopardy. A furious Vatican, according to today’s Daily Mail, is claiming that “dark forces” within the Foreign Office (FO – now understood to mean “Fuck Off” ) are trying to scupper the £20-million trip, to be [...]
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
