Catholic Church's child sex abuse linked to homosexuality?
Protesters demonstrate outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The Vatican claims to have it all figured out when it comes to the sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests in the Catholic Church.
The pope's number two - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone - insists the abuse is linked to homosexuality... and not celibacy.
Gay rights groups are outraged - saying it's a "perverse" strategy by the Vatican to "shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility"... and they're right.
To top it off - this official made the ludicrous claim in Chile, where one pedophile priest had sex with young girls - impregnating at least one teenager. One of his victims says when she told priests about the abuse at confession "they just told me to pray and that was it."
Meanwhile - as the church says it's overhauling its rules on how it handles accusations of sexual abuse, the Associated Press may have a smoking gun that proves Pope Benedict refused to do anything about this when he had the chance.
They report on a letter written in the 80s by then-cardinal Ratzinger, in which he resisted pleas to defrock a California priest who had sexually abused children. After sitting on the request for several years, Ratzinger eventually did nothing - instead asking the Oakland bishop to consider the "good of the universal church."
It eventually became the eleventh commandment in Catholicism: "Protect the church at all costs - to hell with the children."
Here’s my question to you: Is the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church linked to homosexuality?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 5pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Hillary Clinton as Supreme Court justice?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
First Lady... Senator... Presidential candidate... Secretary of State.
Hillary Clinton's resume is already an impressive one ... but what about Supreme Court Justice as her next step?
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Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah first floated the idea... saying Clinton "would be an interesting person in the mix" ... as a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
The White House was quick to take the air out of it... saying that President Obama thinks Clinton is doing an "excellent job" as Secretary of State and that he wants to keep her there. Clinton's spokesman also chimed in - saying the Secretary of State loves her job and isn't looking for another one...
But it's not such a far-fetched notion... and some Clinton supporters love it. Longtime adviser Mark Penn tells Politico that Clinton would make a great justice... that she would "bring a revolution to the court and would be confirmable."
Even her mother has talked about the scenario... once telling a reporter she thought Hillary would be the first woman to serve on the high court...she says she was "kind of sorry" when Sandra Day O'Connor became the first.
It's also worth pointing out that since the retirement of O'connor - the Supreme Court has been made up entirely of career legal scholars and jurists - not a single prominent public figure... in the tradition of justices like William Howard Taft, Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall.
A nominee like Clinton could change all that.
Here’s my question to you: Why shouldn't Pres. Obama consider Hillary Clinton for the Supreme Court?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 6pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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