American popular culture in 2019. Amanda Hess at the NYT writes about a new series of shows:

It begins innocently enough. In the third episode of the Hulu comedy “PEN15,” the seventh grader Maya is playing with two My Little Pony dolls, mashing their pink plastic faces together in a fantasy make-out session, when her face flushes pink, too. For maybe the first time, she sticks a hand down her underwear, and for the remainder of the 30-minute episode, that hand rarely re-emerges. Suddenly Maya’s suburban middle school existence is pulsing with masturbation triggers: a pencil hole drilled into a purple eraser; a classmate’s ear hair; the curve of a sand dune in a nature documentary. A switch has flipped. Now everything is sex.

In the middle school of the American collective imagination, packs of filthy-minded boys stalk the halls, snapping bras and howling at the cliff’s edge of puberty. The sex-obsessed adolescent girl is a rarer breed. More often girls are positioned as victims of raging male hormones, or else they are styled as preternaturally mature, rising above the boys and their juvenile misadventures. Now — in “PEN15,” the film “Eighth Grade” and the Netflix animated comedy “Big Mouth” — the lustful adolescent girl is having her moment.

Let joy be unconfined, truly.

You know who is the majority shareholder in Hulu? Disney, which owns 60 percent. Mickey Mouse is bringing masturbating middle schoolers into American households.

I have a daughter in seventh grade. The idea of allowing these scummy Disney people access to her imagination turns me into Papa Bear.

Read more:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-masturbating-middle-s...

The worse Disney animated movie on this score is "The Lion King" which is a not so disguised way to make kids ACCEPT the concept of hierarchical oligarchy — against the concept of DEMOCRACY. UGLY...

“Mary’s” real name was Francis Cardinal Spellman. The year was 1967, and he was Archbishop of the diocese of New York. An intimate of popes going back to Pope Pius XII, whom he had befriended when he was Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli in the 1920’s and serving as Papal Nuncio in the Vatican, Spellman was the most powerful Catholic figure in the United States, and one of the most powerful in the world. 

The groping took place in his private quarters behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan in the presence of two West Point cadets and one Monsignor who was introduced to us as the Cardinal’s “personal assistant.”

...

We were led into a sitting room with windows overlooking Madison Avenue. Spellman, a diminutive, fleshy square-faced man wearing wire-rimmed spectacles was seated in a corner of the room. His assistant the monsignor showed me to a chair next to him. I took my seat and got out my pen and notebook and started the interview, but before I could even ask my first question, Spellman put his hand on my thigh and started moving it toward my crotch. He was just about to reach my private parts when the monsignor, who was standing behind him, reached over his shoulder and grabbed his wrist and put his hand back in his lap. “Now, now, eminence,” the monsignor whispered to Spellman.

Read more:

https://www.salon.com/2019/02/09/i-was-groped-by-a-man-called-mary-the-w...

Please, bear with old Gus posting stuff all the time... The weather is crap at the moment and I can't go out and play. As well, de-mo-cra-cy demands constant vigilance against the sociopaths and psychopaths whom we elect as leaders (including popes), otherwise it turns into de-mo-crap-cy...

While the new Frederic Martel book, and this weekend’s big Vatican conference on sex abuse, tries to paint Pope Francis as a reformer trying to make the Church less of a gay whorehouse, this new report from an Argentine newspaper tells a different story.

The report is in Spanish, but OnePeterFive has an English-language version of the tale. It’s about how Francis and senior hierarchs protected a bishop credibly accused of molesting seminarians, and other disgusting things. Not only did Francis appoint this bishop in the first place, he also protected him, and took his corrupt self out of Argentina and put him in charge of a Vatican office concerned with financial accountability. Background here. Excerpt:

An Argentine newspaper, El Tribuno, the first one to have reported on the Zanchetta case, published documents on Thursday [February 21] that demonstrate how bishops, the cardinal primate of Argentina, the nuncio, the Vatican, and the pope himself personally knew since 2015 about the case of a bishop who now faces a serious criminal charge of sexual abuse. In the last few days, the case has arrived in civil court, with a criminal accusation made by the victims of the former bishop of Oran. Based on photographs from a 2016 report, signed by five priests, three of whom are former diocesan vicars, it appears clear that Gustavo Zanchetta was accused not only of having obscene pictures of homosexual sex on his cell phone, but also of molesting seminarians, of not having registered the sale of an important piece of property in the diocese, and of immoral behavior related to both the finances and the people of the Diocese of Oran.

The report, which El Tribuno acquired and published photos of (read here), shows how the diocese by chance discovered photos of Zanchetta and other nude men in explicit poses. The chancellor of the diocese saw these photos while he was downloading some institutional images to his P.C. from Zanchetta’s cell phone, at Zanchetta’s personal request. The chancellor informed the authorities, beginning with the vicar general. Immediately afterward, they informed Bishop Emeritus Marcelo Colombo; Archbishop Mario Cargnello of Salta; the cardinal primate, Mario Poli, Archbishop of Buenos Aires; the papal nuncio, Paul Emile Tscherrig; and the pope.

In October 2015, Gustavo Zanchetta was called urgently to Rome, and everyone in the Diocese of Oran thought it had to do with something linked to the Synod on the Family in view of the close rapport which has linked him to Jorge Mario Bergoglio ever since he was cardinal and president of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference. Zanchetta returned to Oran without anything happening, and nobody knows what he spoke about with the pope, but there are those who affirm that Bishop Zanchetta maintained that the photos were rigged.

Read the whole 1P5 account, or even better, go to the Spanish original.

According to El Tribuno, the Pope moved the disgraced and abusive Zanchetta to a Vatican slot because he wanted to show him mercy. Remember, as a Vatican diplomat, Monsignor Battista Ricca was caught in an elevator with a rent boy, was beaten up in a gay bar, and had a string of gay affairs while serving in Latin America. Francis rehabilitated him, and put him in charge of dealing with the Vatican Bank. When Francis was asked about his having given Ricca a key Vatican position despite his disgraceful behavior, the Pope said, “Who am I to judge?”

Read more:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/francis-fake-reformer-zan...

Read from top. Gus is a fierce atheist.

At a child protection summit in Rome called by Pope Francis came a stunning admission: the global Catholic Church deliberately destroyed documents on priests who abused children.

• Cardinal Marx's comments infuriated many survivors of abuse
• The Archbishop of Brisbane says he is aware of a backlog of cases that have been referred to the Vatican
• Nigerian nun Sister Veronica Openibo gave a stirring speech, saying the Catholic Church must face up to its failings

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the Archbishop of Munich, told 190 church leaders gathered in Rome that procedures to investigate and punish paedophile priests had often been ignored.

"Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created," he said.

Australia's Royal Commission found "secrecy prevailed" in the Catholic Church, and documents on abuse allegations were often not kept.

The cardinal's comments infuriated many survivors of abuse whose perpetrators were moved from parish to parish across the globe.

Peter Isely, from Ending Clergy Abuse, questioned if cardinals had referred bishops who covered up crimes to civil authorities.

"They have destroyed criminal evidence of children that were raped. Cardinal Marx knows who it is," he said.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-24/catholic-church-destroyed-secret-files-on-paedophile-priests/10843956

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A Pennsylvania church employee and his wife were charged with stealing $1.2 million from the congregation and using the money for sports events, vacations, and other expenses.

The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office said 50-year-old David Reiter of South Park was being charged with forgery, receiving stolen property, and theft.  

David’s wife, 44-year-old Connie Reiter, is being charged with two counts of receiving stolen property, according to The Associated Press.

Reiter allegedly stole the money from Westminster Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh over the 17-year period that he worked at the church as a business administrator.

The Reiters appeared before District Judge Ronald Arnoni on Tuesday. Mr. Reiter’s bail was set at $50,000 while Mrs. Reiter’s was set at $5,000. The couple will have a preliminary hearing on Feb. 28. 

Read more:

https://www.christianpost.com/us/church-administrator-wife-steal-12-mill...

At least, as far as we know, they did not have sex with kids...

Read from top.

If it wasn't for Phil Saviano, the Catholic Church may never have faced up to the abusers within its ranks who preyed on children.

• Archbishop Coleridge of Brisbane delivered the homily at the summit's closing mass and admitted the Church has been cruel to victims
• Several cardinal and bishops told the summit the Vatican should start publishing its thousands of secret files
• Investigators said transparency has been lacking since more and more abuse allegations have been referred to the Holy See

His dogged determination helped shine a light on a global scandal.

Mr Saviano's push to expose the priests in his diocese who molested children in Boston was immortalised in the movie Spotlight.

Mr Saviano, who was abused as an 11-year-old by a priest, helped journalists investigate an elaborate cover-up which led to a chain reaction that has engulfed the global Catholic Church.

"The Boston Globe really blew things open … then we started hearing about cases in Ireland, and your country Australia," Mr Saviano said.

At an unprecedented meeting of the world's highest-ranking Catholics at the Vatican, Mr Saviano said he was "completely dismayed" by the Pope's response to those scandals.

"I thought I was going to find a little bit of accountability, a little bit of transparency … I really did think that they were moving in that direction.

"Whatever trust they had gained, that trust is eroding fast, people are bailing out of the sinking ship."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-25/what-we-learned-at-vatican-summit...

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Today's (25/02/19) Wilcox (SMH) cartoon is as cutting as usual...

Read from top.

Read also:

Cardinal George Pell did little more than shift his gaze to the carpet, barely registering an expression, as he became the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of sexually abusing children.

“Guilty,” the jury foreperson repeated as a woman audibly hyperventilated in the public pews of the courtroom.

It was the end of a five-week trial in the Victorian County Court and more than three days of deliberations by the jury.

And everyone involved in the case, bar the jury, had been here before. The first jury to hear the case had to be discharged, some of them in tears, when they were not able to reach a unanimous decision.

But this time guilty verdicts were returned on all charges — one count of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act with, or in the presence of, a child.

Moments earlier, Pell’s legal team had appeared relaxed as they chatted waiting for the court to reconvene.

Now, they sat stony faced at the bar table as the word ‘guilty’ hung in the air.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/george-pell-guilty-child-sexual-a...

The pontiff issued two new documents on Tuesday changing how the Church handles abuse cases involving minors and vulnerable persons. They ban the imposition of silence on people who report sexual abuses, as well as raising the cutoff age for porn to be considered child pornography. 

The Pope’s predecessor Benedict XVI decreed in 2001 that information in abuse cases must be covered by ‘pontifical secrecy’ to protect the privacy of the victim and the reputation of the accused. However, the move – the Church’s highest form of secrecy – has been heavily criticized for decades by victims for covering up abuses and preventing prosecution. 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/476097-pope-francis-sex-abuse-pontifical-secrecy/

Meanwhile:

New York clergy sex abuse victims are suing the pope — claiming in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he and the Vatican were aware that a significant number of priests were molesting children and kept it secret.

The class-action lawsuit, brought in Manhattan federal court by seven survivors who previously settled with the Catholic Dioceses in New York for “pennies on the dollar,” alleges sole defendant “the Holy See” acted negligently by instructing its bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse.

“The Holy See has known for centuries that Catholic priests were using their positions and roles in Catholic parishes and schools to sexually molest children,” the suit charges.

The Holy See — the governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church — is led by the pope, and according to Time magazine is estimated to be worth up to $15 billion.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2019/12/17/catholic-church-sex-abuse-victims-are-suin...

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