Cardinals discuss abuse at first meeting in Rome

(CBS News) VATICAN CITY - Most of the cardinals summoned to Rome to elect a new pope have now arrived. Of the 115 eligible to cast a ballot, 107 cardinals held their first pre-conclave meeting Monday about the future of the Roman Catholic Church.

Class was called for 9:30 in the morning, Rome time, for the College of Cardinals.

And many caught the early bus. They are the princes of a church rocked by the child-abuse and other scandals and they admit they've got a lot of homework to do before they can even set a date to begin voting on the next pope.

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The church is under intense scrutiny. There's no such thing as a quiet stroll to work here. The Catholic world --- and particularly the victims of abuse -- want answers.

Cardinal Francis George

/ Jeff Haynes/DePaul University via Getty Images

And many cardinals, like Chicago's Francis George, are here to argue the victims are right.

"They have been abused by a Catholic priest and sometimes by a Catholic bishop and sometimes the abuse has not been addressed as it should have been by Catholic bishops," George said. "That is a terrible wound on the body of the church."

In an interview, Cardinal George said the Vatican cannot ignore the news it has made just because it's bad.

"The headline stories do create context for our discussion," he said. "We follow the press, sometimes happily and sometimes not."

The cardinals themselves must decide when they've talked enough -- and prayed enough -- about the Church's problems to think about who might be the right man to fix them.

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But the subtle jockeying for position has already begun. There's no campaigning for the job here, but there are ways of raising a profile. One is to lead an important mass in Rome, as Austrian Cardinal Schoenborn did.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada

/ PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images

Another is to do deny you're interested when your name makes the rounds.

Canada's Marc Ouellet is considered a compromise contender -- not another European, but not quite American either.

To discount the rumors, he fell back on the old Vatican line about what happens to Conclave favorites: "The one that gets in pope, gets out cardinal."

The cardinals may not know when the conclave will begin, but they know when they'd like it to end. They want to be home for the week before Easter, the Christian Holy week. And the longer they delay, the more the pressure will mount to stop talking and start voting.

[RFG_9]

Cardinal Francis George is making his own "bad news" in Chicago by aiding and abetting (failing to object to) the use of a forged and fraudulent purported "will" by the Archdiocese of Chicago and or Diocese of Peoria (Priests and Bishops thereof) to attempt to improperly gain access to millions of dollars for the Catholic Church.

Is this a case of do as i say, not as i do by Cardinal George himself?

Cardinal Francis George has been fully apprised - in writing - of the improper conduct by the Catholic Church within his own jurisdiction (Archdiocese of Chicago and Diocese of Peoria) and Priests, Bishops and attorneys acting on behalf thereof ---- and has done NOTHING to object to, nor achieve a cessation of any and all such improper conduct.

The Case Nos. are 83 P 396, 89 MR 27 and 09 P 438 --- all public records in the State of Illinois, County of Peoria - public building identified as Peoria County Courthouse.

The hypocrisy and colluded efforts to cover up criminal wrong-doing by this group of anything-but-holy and clearly not honest and decidely not christ-like of these robe-clad so called "leaders" of the Catholic church [whether in reference to child molestation, gay rights and or above-referenced attempt to misappropriate millions of dollars of funds] neither qualifies these miscreants to be spokespersons for the world-wide Catholic Church family, to counsel others, including our nation's youth on how to live moral and honorable lives, nor entitles them to vote or put their name in the hat for consideration regarding the pending Conclave.

[cleric77]

Let's hope to hope that a second Reformation movement will occur in the Church of Rome and that the faithful laity will insist for more authority within it's government and purge the evil, sexual preverts from their priesthood ASAP. It's time for the freedom of Christ's Gospel to set the members of the Church of Rome free from sinful bondage to anti-scriptural beliefs and pactices.

[skiadvocat]

Is this the same Cardinal George who was instrumental in drafting the Charter for the Protection of Children for the USCCB in Dallas in 2002?

How can the Cardinal so conveniently "forget" about the Rev. McCormack case, wherein the criminal priest and his evil destroyed the lives and spirits of many young children in the Archdiocese of Chicago? From the Simon and Garfunkel tune, "A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest."

A new lawsuit claims that the Chicago Archdiocese knew as long ago as 1992 that an incarcerated former priest was molesting young boys, but swept it under the rug until his arrest in 2006.

The lawsuit was filed by a Chicago teen who alleges he was sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack at St. Agatha Parish, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., from 2004 until McCormack's arrest in 2006.

[bantamei]

Evidently "god" doesn't have a problem with pedophiles in "his" church since this abuse has been going on for centuries. Says a lot about "god". He will abide pedophiles and can find you a christian mate but can't protect children.