More Charming Behavior from the Catholic Church

[Trigger warning.]

I honestly cannot understand how the Catholic Church can continue to be regarded as a moral authority on anything by anybody after decades of revelations that they prioritized their reputation over thousands of children (and adults) being sexually assaulted by their priests, the latest being that they colluded with police in Ireland to cover up the crimes.

The cover-ups spanned the tenures of four Dublin archbishops and continued through to the mid-1990s and beyond, even after the church was beginning to admit to its failings and had professed that it was confronting abuse by its priests.

But rather than helping the victims, the church was concerned only with "the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets," said the 700-page report, prepared by a group appointed by the Irish government and called the Commission of Investigation Into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

In a statement, the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, acknowledged the "revolting story" of abuses that the report detailed, saying, "No words of apology will ever be sufficient."

Not for nothing, but any "words of apology" are not only insufficient, but are effectively meaningless as long as the Holy See is still trying to redirect blame onto gay men.

I don't guess I need to point out that colluding with police to cover up sexual assaults not only denied justice to existent survivors, but ensured that even more survivors would be created. Forget sinful—this shit is immoral, unethical, and criminal.

But don't listen to me. I'm just an anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigot. And everyone knows it's far worse to publicly object to the institutionalized protection of rapists and continual revictimization of their victims than it is to do such heinous things in the first place.