Why oh why am I simply not surprised …
Leaked tapes of Belgium’s Cardinal Godfried Danneels urging a victim not to reveal he was sexually abused by a bishop are some of the most damaging documents to emerge in the scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church.
The tapes, made secretly by the victim and published in two Belgian newspapers on Saturday, show the former primate of Belgium exhorting him to accept a private apology or wait one year until the bishop retired before making his case public.
Their meeting took place on April 8, at a time when the Vatican was under fire for allegedly covering up similar abuse cases by priests in other countries and shocking abuse claims dominated the news in several European states.
Everywhere this cult has placed its feet, you find tales of abuse, and also a conspiracy to cover it all up. They claim to hold the high moral ground, yet have a long record of quite the opposite.
A spokesman for Danneels denied the once popular archbishop of Brussels wanted to cover up the case, which led to the sudden resignation of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 73, later that month, but the tapes show him arguing firmly for silence.
Belgian Church spokesman Jurgen Mettepenningen confirmed to Reuters that the transcripts in the Flemish dailies De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad were genuine.
Yes indeed, solid evidence that the Cardinal lied. If it had been anybody else, he would have been locked up for attempting to pervert the course of justice, but because he is a Cardinal, he appears to have a Get-Out-Of-Jail free card.