As Pope Benedict
XVI steps down today, we turn
to a former Catholic priest who was silenced and expelled by the pope,
then-Cardinal Ratzinger, in the 1980s. Matthew Fox chronicles his story
in the book "The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has
Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved." Pope Benedict’s tenure
was marked by several scandals, most notably his handling of the
widening sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, including
allegations that he ignored at least one case of abuse while serving as a
cardinal. Documents show that in 1985 he delayed efforts to defrock a
priest convicted of molesting children. "I’ll take the pope at his word
here when he says he’s tired. I would be tired, too, if I left as much
devastation in my wake as he has," Fox says. "I think that the Catholic
Church as we know it, the structure of the Vatican, is passé. We’re
moving beyond it. And it’s become a viper’s nest. It’s really sick,
what’s going on, obviously — the cover-up of the pedophile priests."
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/28/fascism_in_the_church_ex_priest