Catholics United, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, says that former Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony should refrain from attending the papal conclave and recuse himself from voting. The petition launched last week had more than 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday representing a tiny fraction of the roughly one in four Americans who are Catholics.But Mahony has no clue he's dead meat. In fact, he's preparing to vote. This is such an evil notion and, as always, the church is tone-deaf. Do they never ask, "How must this look to Catholics and others?" The linked story states that Mahony is "attending the Vatican conclave to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI". This means the new pope will be partially elected and tainted by a man who hid child rape and other sexual abuse by priests. Mahony's transgressions aren't a secret. The whole world knows the man is a verified beast. But the church doesn't give a damn.
"Please do not bring further scandal to our Church that has already been rocked by the sex abuse crisis by attending the Papal Conclave. You have been disciplined and you have lost your ability to have a voice within our Church," said the petition from the Washington-based group.
Quite a fresh start they're getting over at the Vatican. What an appalling church this is. Over and over, the Roman Catholic church reveals that it has no moral center. None.
