• @FreshParsnip@lemmy.caOP
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    23•1 day ago

    I’m sure there are some preists who are good people, but enough of them are predators that it ain’t worth the risk

    • Infrapink
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      18•23 hours ago

      Most priests aren’t paedophiles.

      The problem is that the hierarchy actively protects and covers up those who are, to the extent of moving them to different parishes if people get suspicious. And to be clear, this isn’t because popes are necessarily in favour of paedophilia (though I’m not saying none are…), it’s because the clergy are more concerned with the prestige and survival of the institution than they are with the well-being of lay believers.

      • @eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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        3•12 hours ago

        It’s been a trope since at least the 1500s that clergy are pedos, “Julius Excluded from Heaven” by Erasmus contains this exchange between Saint Peter and the recently deceased pope Julius:

        PETER: [… ] I hope it won’t be too tiresome for you to answer a few clumsy questions about the details. Who, for example, are these little curly-headed striplings? JULIUS: I brought them up for my diversion.

        https://web.archive.org/web/20090326073147/www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/lansing/classes/hist4b/materials/Week7.pdf

        • edible_funk
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          1•9 hours ago

          Yes but statistics indicate priests are not more likely to be pedophiles than any other profession that works regularly with children.

          • @eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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            2•7 hours ago

            Statistics need someone to report them, and someone to record them.

            If you haven’t experienced it you don’t know how tightly faith communities protect the people they worship.

      • HM King Charles III DG FD
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        6•20 hours ago

        Also the seal of confession. Paedo priests would confess their abuse to all of their colleagues using it. Thus they can’t do anything or they’d be accused of breaking said seal

    • shittydwarf
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      10•1 day ago

      The position just attracts too many pedos to give any one of them the benefit of the doubt

      • edible_funk
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        4•9 hours ago

        Same with teachers and other child oriented careers. They all attract pedos at more or less the same rates but churches are generally better about covering it up than schools.

      • @TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
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        5•
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        1 day ago

        How do you even apply for a job like that? If it’s like any other interview, surely there’s some sort of psychological assessment or a background check. Maybe you just need to wear a fanatic facade, and you’re hired… I just have no idea how Catholics roll.

        • Infrapink
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          6•23 hours ago

          Basically, you need to go to Catholic university to get a degree in theology. There is a while process of attending courses and getting additional qualifications to get higher ranks. Freemasonry was partly modelled on this.