Muhammad pedophile

Italian politician leader Daniela Santanchè, during a heated discussion about Holy Cross in a TV show, offends prophet Muhammad: "He was a polygamist and a pedophile, he married a 9 years old child."

Facere et Docere

Report Details Abuses in Irish Reformatories
By SARAH LYALL

LONDON, May 20, 2009 — Tens of thousands of Irish children were sexually, physically and emotionally abused by nuns, priests and others over 60 years in a network of church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted, according to a report released in Dublin on Wednesday.

The 2,600-page report paints a picture of institutions run more like Dickensian orphanages than 20th-century schools, characterized by privation and cruelty that could be both casual and choreographed.

“A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions,” the report says. In the boys’ schools, it says, sexual abuse was “endemic.”

The report, by a state-appointed commission, took nine years to produce and was meant to help Ireland face and move on from one of the ugliest aspects of its recent history. But it has infuriated many victims’ groups because it does not name any of the hundreds of individuals accused of abuse and thus cannot be used as a basis for prosecutions.

It was delayed because of a lawsuit brought by the Christian Brothers, the religious order that ran many of the boys’ schools and that fought, ultimately successfully, to have the abusers’ names omitted. In 2003, the commission’s first chairwoman resigned, saying that Ireland’s Department of Education had refused to release crucial documents. The report covers a period from the 1930s to the 1990s, when the last of the institutions closed.

It exposes for the first time the scope of the problem in Ireland, as well as how the government and the church colluded in perpetuating an abusive system. The revelations have also had the effect of stripping the Catholic Church, which once set the agenda in Ireland, of much of its moral authority and political power.

The report singles out Ireland’s Department of Education, meant to regulate the schools, for running “toothless” inspections that overlooked glaring problems and deferred to church authority.

The report is based in part on old church records of unreported abuse cases and in part on the anonymous testimony of 1,060 former students from a variety of 216 mostly church-run institutions, including reformatories and so-called industrial schools, set up to tend to neglected, orphaned or abandoned children.

Most of the former students are now 50 to 80 years old.

Some 30,000 children were sent to such places over six decades, the report says, often against their families’ wishes and because of pressure from powerful local priests. They were sent because their families could not afford to care for them, because their mothers had committed adultery or given birth out of wedlock, or because one or both of their parents was ill, drunken or abusive. They were also sent because of petty crime, like stealing food, or because they had missed school.

Many of the former students said that they had not learned their own identities until decades later. They also said that their parents had unsuccessfully tried to reclaim them from the state.

In a litany that sounds as if it comes from the records of a P.O.W. camp, the report chronicles some of the forms of physical abuse suffered in the boys’ schools:

“Punching, flogging, assault and bodily attacks, hitting with the hand, kicking, ear pulling, hair pulling, head shaving, beating on the soles of the feet, burning, scalding, stabbing, severe beatings with or without clothes, being made to kneel and stand in fixed positions for lengthy periods, made to sleep outside overnight, being forced into cold or excessively hot baths and showers, hosed down with cold water before being beaten, beaten while hanging from hooks on the wall, being set upon by dogs, being restrained in order to be beaten, physical assaults by more than one person, and having objects thrown at them.”

Some of the schools operated essentially as workhouses. In one school, Goldenbridge, girls as young as 7 spent hours a day making rosaries by stringing beads onto lengths of wire. They were given quotas: 600 beads on weekdays and 900 on Sundays.

Girls were routinely sexually abused, often by more than one person at a time, the report said, in “dormitories, schools, motor vehicles, bathrooms, staff bedrooms, churches, sacristies, fields, parlors, the residences of clergy, holiday locations and while with godparents and employers.”

The Vatican had no response. But leaders of various religious orders — who often argued during the investigations that the abuse was a relic of another time, reflecting past societal standards — issued abject apologies on Wednesday, taking care to frame the problem as something that is now behind them.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the Catholic primate of All Ireland, said in a statement that he was “profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed,” adding, “I hope the publication of today’s report will help heal the hurts of victims and address the wrongs of the past.”

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a group based in St. Louis, said that while the report had failed in its duty to bring the perpetrators to justice, it had been clear about the failings of the church.

“While horrific, widespread reports of abuse and cover-up are sadly quite common, the significance here is that a government panel is conclusively saying that the finger-pointing and blame-shifting and excuse-making of the church hierarchy is bogus,” he said in an interview.

The commission was formed in 2000, after an explosive series of radio programs and documentaries in the 1990s began exposing a terrible secret that had been kept by an entire society: the details of what went on in the children’s homes. In 1999, Bertie Ahern, then the prime minister, issued a blanket apology to the victims of the abuse.

Since then, the accusations and the question of justice have been a preoccupation across Ireland and among Irish emigrants around the world. In 2002, the Catholic Church in Ireland agreed to pay $175 million to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. A separate group has paid out some $1.5 billion so far to more than 10,000 people who have claimed they were abused in state and church-run institutions.

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, an American group that maintains an Internet archive of material related to Catholic abuse, said that the report had failed by not going far enough.

“The report is significant in that it provides a detailed anatomy of how the abuse occurred and the institutions in which it occurred,” he said in an interview. “The problem is that you spend almost 10 years and who knows how much money, and you never get to the point of saying who was responsible.”

(Source: nytimes.com)

Crucified Woman

MILAN - a leaflet for the campaign to combat violence against women: a naked woman in the crucified position, with the cloth which traditionally cover Jesus' groin and the inscription: "Who pays fof men's sins?". And the subtitle: "Only 4% of the women victims of violence denounce their own persecutor. The others pay for him too". This is the proposal arrived to Milan's Publicity Office from Telefono Donna (Women Phone) for the campaign on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which will take place in 25th november.

The request is to expose 500 leaflets with this image in public space of the municipal district of Milan. In the leaflet the woman is lying down on a sheet, two pillows behind the open arms, legs with overlapped feet, palm of the hands lying down, as pierced by nails, in the traditional christian iconografic position of Jesus.

The town councillor for the urban furniture Maurizio Cadeo, is unwilling. He explains: "I don't know if I can refuse the spaces, but I totally repel the content which offends our christian tradition. I put the political problem and I will inform the mayor: I will ask to Telefono Donna to withdrawal the leeflet".

"I will let councillor Cadeo to decide. It's difficult to give a judgement. Judgements risk to be personal. It's not easy". This is what the mayor, Letizia Moratti, says during a presentation at Fieramilanocity, to answer about the leaflet.

"I am honoured because of what the mayor said. She shows care, class and sensibility. She has my approval, she didn't fall in the trap of who wants the fight. Unfortunately others are not her same level". This is the way Stefania Bartoccetti, founder of Telefono Donna, intervenes as regard what the mayor said.

"It seems deplorable to me - Bartoccetti says - the behaves of councillor Cadeo: he just could call me to tell he doesn't agree with the image, he still didn't do that. It's not fair he accuse me to use the religious theme in an offensive way: if I didn't have faith I could not testify my effort for violence victims. The mayor understood this and this is the reason she assumed that position. I thanks for her sensibiliy for an organization which works since 16 years, with 75 thousand cases resolved".

"We never started to print 500 leaflets if we didn't have the town authorization. But we have. The councillor didn't tell me anything about his objections. I know that now and I am surprised. We already have permission for the image and the spaces and we already asked for the terms of delivery. We have 500 of them in 100x140 size. I am surprised and I think this is not the right way to proceeed: give permission and then raise objection to the press. If they said they don't agree the leaflets we didn't proceed". The campaign, Bartoccetti explains, was created by Arnord Worldwide Italy.

"For sure it's a strong image and a strong impact message - Bartoccetti says - but the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women doesn't talk about candies, and in a campaign we can't just give numbers. Our mission is to pay attention and give voice to who lives this violences, and their real-life story is : I feel myself crucified. The message we want to give is a deep suffering one: for Heaven's sake, it's not comparable with Jesus' one, but is a deep suffering anyway". No intention, Bartoccetti specify, "to contrast town administration, even if I didn't expect this reaction after a given authorization".

"We ask for the immediate withdrawal of this campaign, which pursues a fair purpose exploiting the Christianity symbol". This is the position of the leader of AN at the town hall, Carlo Fidanza. "We need more respect for our cultural heritage. They talk a lot about dignity: this leaflets contrast dignity, common sense and public morals".

"I invite Telefono Donna to work more on concrete proposals rather than aping Oliviero Toscani. That image is in bad taste". This is the way the Forza Italia's leader at the town hall, Giulio Gallera, intervenes about the leaflets. "Sensitization on violence against women has to be tackled in a way different than images which has in bad taste and offend religious. Telefono donna should work more on concrete proposals".

(Fonti: repubblica.it, affariitaliani.it)

Day Zero

Because I'm busy in these days, here it is another strip from my old blog, which is about the scandal documentary "Sex Crimes & The Vatican" broadcasted during the TV show "Year Zero" by Michele Santoro. I was talking about that in the previous strip, too. It was almost a year ago: 31th May, 2007.

This is the video, in two parts. Just to don't forget:

Fresh News

Another comic I published on my old blog in 21th May 2007.

Better give than get

Pedophilia in seminary: priest arrested

Police arrested a priest in Brescia, Italy. He's Marco Baresi, assistant director of seminary in Brescia accused of pedophilia. Abuses on 14y.o. seminarist and possession of pedo-pornographic material. Bishop Monari and his assitant Beschi, was grieved "He's well known and esteemed. The tragedy of the victim of abuses can't be ignored, especially if they involve priests, but it's important to consider the delicacy of the situation of who is accused of this facts and is innocent.".

(Fonte: Epolis Milano)

I agree with Bishop Monari and, even if I report the news, I'd like to remember to wait investigation's results. This news remember me the case of Don Marco Dessi, the missionary sentenced in 24th May for the abuses against the orphans he should assist in Nicaragua. Here it is the comic strip in which I was bitterly ironic about his conviction.

Lost sheeps

Today a newspaper carries the news about the torchlight procession in Milan, made to remember all the children victim of abuses and violence. The Archbishop of Milan, Dionigi Tettamanzi, assailed against the abuses, remembering also pedophilia cases in the Church.
The following comic strip is the first of three I realized about the scandals which hit the Vatican, guilty to have hidden the news about them. We hope in the future the Church will start to sentence its own priests.