Deja Vu for the Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church is one full of prestige, glory, power, and pride. It is one of the oldest surviving institutions today, and is currently the largest church in the world with over 1 billion members. The Church dates back to the early 300's, when Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan. After the legalization, practicing Christians sought to reach a unified decision on orthodox and sort out the specifics of Christendom in the first Seven Ecumenical Councils, beginning with the First Council of Nicea in 325 and ending with the Second Council of Nicea in 787. In 382 during the crucial Council of Rome, Biblical canon was established when the accepted books of the Old Testament and New Testament were listed out.

A history as rich and time-honored as that of the Church could not have happened without some cover-ups, and the stepping-on of some toes, right? Right. The Church has ensured that Catholicism was vaulted to the forefront of religious organizations on a global scale. They oppressed those that spoke out against the Church so many years ago, most notably the pagans. When people nowadays hear the word "pagan", they immediately think of a "devil worshipper" and the Satanic church. In reality, the pagans were a peaceful religion that was in tune with nature and believed in the beauty of Mother Earth. However, they weren't Catholic, so a widespread smear campaign was launched, leading to the erroneous assumption that pagans are connected to Satan and the general demise of the religion on a societal basis.

Another more recent example of the aforementioned "vaulting" (although this one is true for most all denominations of Christianity) deals with the suppression of information. Ever hear of the Book of Philip? No? Not surprising. The "Gospel" of Philip was a Gnostic manuscript that was lost to the ages until discovered by an Egyptian peasant in 1945. The book carries a theme of Sacraments, and is also the source of the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This was also a book that portrayed Christ as not an immortal deity, but a "mere mortal" (one of the main reasons it was kept from publication). This writing would shake the foundation of the Church, as would the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The latest scandal involves pedophilia among the highest members of the papacy. It's brought debate concerning mandatory celibacy for priests, and also the members of the Church's hierarchy that failed to report the crimes, despite knowledge. Between 1950 and 2002, there were 10,667 reported cases of sexual abuse by the clergy towards minors. The 149 priests who had over 10 allegations made up for 3000 cases, showing that repeated offenses are common. My question is, where and when was this okay? I don't know what time period these people want to be in, but here and now, what is going on there is not okay. Every single priest, bishop, and cardinal found guilty of this heinous crime should be banished from that church, or whatever it is they do. They already have ultra-conservative sects of the Church such as the famed Opus Dei creating a bad light, and now with this widespread abuse, corruption, and cover-up nonsense, are they really above the law? I'm not sure who's God commands THAT, surely it's unacceptable.

Time to show some ownership.