New Book About Clergy Sex Abuse: Inhumanity in the Name of Jesus

Bless Me Father, For You Have Sinned: Resident Evil in a Catholic Church populated with Sexual Deviates, Psychopaths, Sadists and NonBelievers, also marketed as Clergy Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church, were published in the summer of 2015.

These books were based on Pafumi's initial investigation into the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy worldwide. His research led to the creation of the SACCADAS (Survivor Accounts of Catholic Clergy Abuse, Denial, Accountability and Silence) database, chronicling the abuse of 12,000 victims by more than 3,000 Catholic priests and clergy.

Inhumanity in the Name of Jesus is the first of two volumes about sex abuse in the Catholic Church. With sex abuse accusations against major celebrities and public figures, such as Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer, Pafumi focused on victims abused by Catholic clergy.

They paved the way for the #MeToo movement. Victims of Catholic clergy are no longer willing to remain silent about the abuse they suffered, sometimes decades ago.

Pope Francis is currently dealing with the fallout from his recent trip to Chile, where he defended a bishop who covered for a clergy sex offender. The Pope accused the alleged victims of calumny even though he was given an eight-page letter from one of the victims. It seems the Pope lied. Why?

The Catholic Church, including the sex abuse crisis, is not easily understood without a consideration of the Church’s history. The cover-up of sex abuse was inevitable because of the Church's belief in its ecclesiastical infallibility and its long history of unchecked power.

Since the second century, Church leaders recognized there was abuse of minors. But as recently as 2018, the pope himself became an abuse denier. One way to view the cover-ups of child abuse is unapologetic clericalism.

Pope Francis called accusations against a Chilean Bishop [Juan Barros] who covered up sex abuse, “all calumny.” Pope Francis steadfastly refused to rescind that appointment despite objections from Chilean clergy. Pope Francis implicitly invoked the medieval concept of privilegium fori, i.e. only the Church can judge itself.

Privilegium fori seems to be the reason why there is no mandatory reporting requirement. Clergy supervisors, mainly bishops, are not required by the Church to turn over clergy offenders to the civil authorities unless required by local civil law.

The Church would rather protect offenders instead of ridding itself of this cancer, i.e. child molesters in its midst. The promotion of Bishop Barros in Chile clearly shows that this attitude goes all the up to the pope.

The Church opposes sex abuse laws which include a look-back period for victims abused years or decades ago. When Guam enacted legislation in 2016 eliminating the statute of limitations for past sex crimes against children, a bishop challenged the constitutionality of the law as a violation of ex-post facto provisions in the U.S. Constitution.

The State of New York has failed to pass the Child Victims Act for more than a decade, in part due to lobbying by the Church. Expanding or eliminating the statute of limitations is less about protecting kids from Catholic clergy now and in the future (at least in the developed countries).

It is more about making restitution to people who are still in pain from the abuse they suffered years or decades past.

This book promotion is an attempt for as many interested parties as possible to obtain this book at little cost. It is hoped that readers will better understand sexual abuse of minors and encourage their legislators to amend the statute of limitations and include a look-back period for prior abuse.

It is high time that victims be given an opportunity for the restitution they have been denied for years, decades in many cases.