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Saturday, February 04, 2012
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| Summer Update from The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Canada)
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Summer Update
from The Friends and Relatives
of the Disappeared (Canada)
An Affiliate of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State
July 7, 2010
on Occupied Squamish Nation territory ("Vancouver, Canada")
In this issue:
1. Confronting the whitewash of Genocide in Canada:
FRD members and elder Peter Yellow Quill witness at the "truth and reconciliation" fiasco in Winnipeg, and deliver a proclamation to the Queen of England
2. The growing international network of survivors of church terrorism - and our plans for a European tour in September and October
3. The murder of Johnny "Bingo" Dawson: More proof from the coroner
4. Does the Pope really own the entire world? A reflection on what we really face
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ...
Confronting the Lie in Winnipeg:
The TRC circus comes to town, and is met by the small but vocal truth
The long-heralded "official" government commission into Indian residential schools in Canada opened in Winnipeg on June 16, to an unprecedented media fanfare. If not an actual inquiry, the event was at least good entertainment, featuring rock bands, "healing tents" run by the very churches responsible for torturing and killing children, and a deluge of "reconciliation" rhetoric that would make the worst spin doctor blush.
One actual survivor of the residential schools summed up the spectacle when she observed,
"They wouldn't even pay my way here, and when I got up to speak, all I got was five minutes to tell my story. Then I was told I couldn't name any names or ever sue the church. I felt like I was being raped all over again."
After years of grassroots pressure, Canada's $68 million "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) came into being two years ago, as part of Prime Minister Harper's forced "apology" to residential school survivors that amounts to little more than a legal indemnification of the guilty parties. For, simultaneous with the "apology", the government declared that no criminal charges would be laid against the churches that ran the residential schools, despite their admission that thousands of children had died in them.
Like in Ireland, church officials in Canada have actually controlled the inquiry into their crimes against children, and defined the terms of settlement to their victims: a fact which makes absurd any pretense of legal legitimacy by the TRC.
Nevertheless, all of "official" Canada seemed not to notice its naked Emperor during mid-June, when everyone from the Queen of England to world "religious leaders" praised the TRC and Canada in general - while thousands of survivors of residential schools were left out in the cold, once more.
They came from all over Canada, at their own expense - the TRC refused to help with survivors' travel costs - to tell of what they suffered at residential school, and how it continues. But in most cases, they were never heard.
One voice was: that of Peter Yellow Quill, who is a traditional chief of the Anishinabe Nation in central Manitoba. Along with members of the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) in Winnipeg, Peter organized a protest outside the TRC forum that called for a genuine inquiry, especially into the more than 50,000 children who died in the residential schools. He also spoke inside the forum, which he described:
"Your statement had to be screened first. Then you were given a few minutes at the mike. But I noticed there was no court reporter present, so none of what was heard had any legal weight and wasn't on the record. That's an old Indian Affairs trick: smoke and mirrors, and nothing changes.
"I told the commissioners that they were engaged in a massive fraud and they would face an accounting for covering up these crimes. And I was glad to see our people there ignore the censorship and name the names of their abusers."
Peter did more than protest: on July 3, he returned to Winnipeg with soil from two Indian residential schools to conduct a commemoration ceremony for the disappeared children. Timed to coincide with the Queen of England's appearance that day, Peter's action was followed by his delivery of a proclamation to the Queen.
Citing the treaty signed by his ancestors with the English Crown in 1870, Peter's statement read,
"As we did not cede or surrender our land, faith, sovereignty or our children, is is with due respect that we inform you that we are not your subjects. You are not our sovereign ... nor are we Indians of the Indian Act ... the rape and murder, neglect and cover up of the death of thousands of First Nations children and their blood that cries out, must compel your majesty to break the deafening silence from her throne and without reservation, condemn these acts of terror that were committed in her name and that of her governments. "
Peter's statement follows on a Letter of Demand issued to the Queen in January, 2008 by the FRD asking her to identify and repatriate the remains of all children who died in Canadian Indian residential schools - a letter which she never answered.
"It will take more than this" commented Peter Yellow Quill after his ceremony.
"That's why I am honored to be traveling in September with the FRD delegation to London, to Geneva, and to Rome, to force the Queen and the Pope to respond. But it's up to all of our people to start speaking out about what they know."
Peter's action, and the FRD protests, were reported in only one Canadian newspaper. The next day, on July 4, FRD members in downtown Toronto held up signs to the Queen's entourage which displayed the 2008 letter to her, declaring "TRC: Tyrannical, Ruthless Criminals".
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ..
The Ripple becomes a Wave:
An International Tribunal is Born
Eight groups in five countries united under a common banner on June 15, 2010 to establish an international tribunal to bring the Vatican, and other churches, to justice.
Fed up with government and police collusion in protecting church child rapists, and the apparent immunity from prosecution of the churches themselves, survivors of church terror established The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) on the basis of five general principles: Full reparations for survivors, Full disclosure of the crimes, Repatriation of the dead, Criminal prosecution of those responsible, and Preventative measures to ensure that the crimes against children end.
The sponsoring organizations of the ITCCS include the Templemore Forgotten Victims of Antrim in Ireland, Survivors of Clergy Abuse of Australia, The Akha Heritage Foundation of Thailand, The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared of Canada, Against Church Terror Coalition of America, SAPED and the Cultural Foundation Native Expressions of Canada.
The first joint action of the ITCCS will be in London, England on September 17, 2010, to protest the visit by Pope Joseph Ratzinger to Parliament, and then to Westminster Cathedral.
After that, the ITCCS delegation will continue to Geneva, Rome and other European cities to conduct public actions, and build support for the criminal prosecution of the Pope and other church officials for their crimes against children, and humanity. Interest has already been shown for the ITCCS campaign by politicians in the Italian and European parliaments, and major media networks will be covering the tour.
The full program of the ITCCS is displayed in the appendix (below). Please circulate this to your local media and networks, and consider endorsing and joining the Tribunal. Help to build local ITCCS tribunals in your community to put the torturers of children on trial - and promote the ITCCS tour in Europe. A new website for the ITCCS is forthcoming; contact with the Tribunal can be made for now through this email.
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......
More Proof that Bingo Dawson was Murdered:
The Questionable Coroner's Report
by Kevin Annett
My dear friend, and a leader of our Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) group in Vancouver, Johnny Bingo Dawson, died last December 5. An eyewitness saw him beaten severely by three Vancouver policemen two days before he died. But a recently released Vancouver Coroner's report that was just mailed to me claims that Bingo died of "presumed alcohol withdrawal", even though the toxicology exam found no alcohol in his bloodstream!
The autopsy and toxicology report was issued last December 21, but not until June 4 of this year was the final report signed and issued. And yet, contrarily, the Chief Coroner who conducted the exam, Matt Brown, told me last March 10 that his report on Bingo was "still pending".
So why did the Coroner lie to me then? Why did he sit on the report for over five months? And why does that report "presume" that Bingo died of alcohol withdrawal when he lacked any alcohol in his bloodstream? A "presumption" means that no definite or clear cause of death is apparent. Bingo, then, officially died of no discernible cause.
That, of course, is what any fudged report will claim if it aims to conceal a person's actual cause of death: in this case, a murderous beating by police.
Things get even more suspect when one considers the term used by Coroner Brown to describe Bingo's condition at his time of death, "delirium tremens", or "DT" in coroner's parlance.
DT is a condition in a severe alcoholic characterized by anxiety, tremors, nausea and fever, but which results in death only in 5% of cases - and these symptoms occur in the victim 48 or more hours before death.
And yet according to several people who saw him the day before he died, he displayed none of these symptoms. Ricky Lavallee saw him about twelve hours before his death, and claims that Bingo was calm, coherent and healthy, but very sore and bruised from his assault by the cops.
The contradictory Coroner's report, and the evasive and delaying behaviour of its author, Matt Brown, points strongly towards a cover-up of foul play: especially considering the witnessed beating of Bingo.
Bingo Dawson is one of five of our people who have died since December - all of them indigenous activists.
Bingo was a marked man: the police and church officials in downtown Vancouver wanted him out of the way, since he had led church occupations about the murdered residential school children, and stood up to police brutality against the homeless. I even witnessed a police staff sergeant threaten Bingo to his face, warning that he would be "dealt with" if he continued the church occupations, not a week before his beating.
Don't let those responsible cover-up his murder. Demand from the Vancouver Coroner's office a true explanation of what killed him. Let's hold a genuine inquiry into his death, and never cease remembering and protesting what happened to our brave brother!
Contact the Vancouver Coroner's office at and ask for Matt Brown, or the toxicologist Dr. Walter Martz or Dr. Douglas Weber. Bingo's case number is BCCS No. 09-280-0149.
Stay tuned to our Hidden from History program every Monday from 1-2 pm pacific time at www.coopradio. org , for updates on this campaign.
Bingo Dawson lives!
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ........
Does the Pope Really Own the Entire World? A Reflection on what we really face
by Kevin Annett
Do you ever wonder how the Roman Catholic church has gotten away with rape, murder and torture for nearly two thousand years, and stolen other peoples' lands in the name of "god"?
There are a lot of obvious explanations, including the power of money and Empire, and the 15th century papal bulls called Romanus Pontifex and Inter Catera that dispossessed all non-Christians of their lands, and carved up the planet between Spain and Portugal.
But even those laws don't explain how one institution can commit so many crimes without facing any consequences. I believe you have to go back a lot further in time to find the cause: in a forged document called the "Donation of Constantine" cooked up by Vatican lawyers in the ninth century.
The Donation claimed to be a statement signed by the Emperor Constantine - the guy who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire - which was issued just before he died in the year 337. In it, Constantine transfers all of the authority, as well as the land and wealth of the Roman Empire, into the hands of the Catholic church.
The significance of this document is that every subsequent Pope used it to justify their claim of absolute power over all governments on earth. In effect, because the church was and is seen as the continuation of the Pax Romana, or the single supreme empire on earth, the Pope assumes authority over all peoples and their governments, including all non-Christians; and he can depose them at will.
This handy lie allowed the church to sanctify the conquest of much of the world, and murder untold millions of people. But it also allows the Vatican today to thumb its nose at the law of any country when it tries to bring priests - and the pope himself - to trial for raping and torturing children, or concealing those crimes.
After all, it's not simply because the Vatican claims status as a "state" - thanks to an Italian law of 1929, courtesy of Benito Mussolini, that made it so - that its lawyers claim the Pope is "diplomatically immune" from prosecution. For heads of state themselves can be tried under international law for crimes against humanity, which includes child rape, sex trafficking and other normal pastimes among Catholic clergy. Something more fundamental is used to justify the Vatican's immunity from prosecution or accountability: namely, the Donation and the mystique of infallible power generated by it.
The fact that the Donation has been repeatedly proven to be a forgery hasn't deterred the Vatican from relying on it as the basis of their authority on earth - and their exemption from laws and accountability for their crimes. But since we know that "fraud invalidates all claims", then this enormous historical fraud negates the present defense by the Vatican that it cannot be judged or tried in civil courts for crimes by its priests because it is under a separate jurisdiction: its own.
Real justice is not possible while this gargantuan fraud by the church is aided and abetted by compliant governments afraid of catholic voter disapproval, or who themselves are complicit in crimes against the innocent. But first, the fraud must be exposed, and the church's claim of absolute supremacy and legal untouchability denied and thwarted.
Someone once told me that trying to unseat the oldest power on earth is impossible, insane, and suicidal. I prefer not to ask whether something is possible, but rather, whether it is necessary. Once we know the answer to that, then the course of action of any man or woman of integrity is decided.
The cries of the murdered children, and those who suffer today and will be victims tomorrow, are the voices that I listen to when it comes to how to deal with the crimes of the church. We have no course, ultimately, than to end what has caused these crimes, by uprooting the mentality and the lies which sanctify the violation and murder of the innocent by a church corporation that places itself above all laws.
We are in a revolution, people. We must put an end to the false church.
My not so humble opinion. Let me know yours.
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ....
Appendix:
Statement of Aims for
The International Tribunal into
Crimes of Church and State
Note: The term "Church" refers to both Catholic and Protestant denominations, and any religious organization complicit in these crimes
1. Full Reparations: Genuine restorative measures and payments are required, on terms dictated by survivors and their families. The Church must pay for all costs incurred by their victims as a result of their abuse by the Church, including all medical bills, counseling, vocational retraining, loss of income and education, and other expenses. The Church must return all land and property taken from their victims, evacuate illegally occupied land of indigenous people, and restore all the wealth generated by their exploitation of their victims.
2. Full Disclosure: The Church must be compelled to surrender all evidence, documentation and forensic remains, and all witnesses and perpetrators, connected to crimes against persons under their care or in their institutions. The Church must openly and fully participate without conditions in public and legal inquiries into their crimes.
3. Repatriation and Memorials: The Church must surrender for a proper burial the remains of all those who died under their care or in their institutions, without conditions and at church expense. Public memorial sites and museums must be established to record these crimes, the names of the dead, their cause of death and the names of those responsible.
4. Criminal Prosecution: The persons and institutions responsible for the suffering and death of children must be arrested, tried and sentenced in courts of law and as part of an International Commission of Inquiry. No form of immunity, exemption or protection regarding the Church, diplomatic or otherwise, can impede this legal process.
5. Preventative Measures: To ensure that these crimes against the innocent never happen again, the Church must lose all special privileges and immunities which set it above and beyond the law, and be re-established as a public, accountable institution. All clergy and church officials must be licensed and monitored as public servants, and be subject to review, discipline and loss of licensing. All Church tax exemptions must be abolished, and the Church and its property and wealth nationalized. All diplomatic recognition and governmental status of the Vatican must be annulled. All Church laws and policies which harm others and conceal criminal acts by the Church will be abolished. Known offenders among clergy and other Church personnel will be publicly identified and registered, and monitored by the community. No Church body larger than an individual congregation will be allowed to legally exist or operate.
This statement has so far been endorsed by over fifty individuals and the following organizations:
Templemore Forgotten Victims (Antrim, Ireland)
Survivors of Clergy Abuse Australia
Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Canada)
Shuswap Association for the Promotion of Eco-Development (SAPED - Canada)
Against Church Terror (ACT) - United States
Cultural Foundation Native Expressions (Canada)
Republican Party of Kanata (Canada)
Akha Heritage Foundation (United States - Thailand)
Summer Update
from The Friends and Relatives
of the Disappeared (Canada)
An Affiliate of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State
July 7, 2010
on Occupied Squamish Nation territory ("Vancouver, Canada")
In this issue:
1. Confronting the whitewash of Genocide in Canada:
FRD members and elder Peter Yellow Quill witness at the "truth and reconciliation" fiasco in Winnipeg, and deliver a proclamation to the Queen of England
2. The growing international network of survivors of church terrorism - and our plans for a European tour in September and October
3. The murder of Johnny "Bingo" Dawson: More proof from the coroner
4. Does the Pope really own the entire world? A reflection on what we really face
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ...
Confronting the Lie in Winnipeg:
The TRC circus comes to town, and is met by the small but vocal truth
The long-heralded "official" government commission into Indian residential schools in Canada opened in Winnipeg on June 16, to an unprecedented media fanfare. If not an actual inquiry, the event was at least good entertainment, featuring rock bands, "healing tents" run by the very churches responsible for torturing and killing children, and a deluge of "reconciliation" rhetoric that would make the worst spin doctor blush.
One actual survivor of the residential schools summed up the spectacle when she observed,
"They wouldn't even pay my way here, and when I got up to speak, all I got was five minutes to tell my story. Then I was told I couldn't name any names or ever sue the church. I felt like I was being raped all over again."
After years of grassroots pressure, Canada's $68 million "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) came into being two years ago, as part of Prime Minister Harper's forced "apology" to residential school survivors that amounts to little more than a legal indemnification of the guilty parties. For, simultaneous with the "apology", the government declared that no criminal charges would be laid against the churches that ran the residential schools, despite their admission that thousands of children had died in them.
Like in Ireland, church officials in Canada have actually controlled the inquiry into their crimes against children, and defined the terms of settlement to their victims: a fact which makes absurd any pretense of legal legitimacy by the TRC.
Nevertheless, all of "official" Canada seemed not to notice its naked Emperor during mid-June, when everyone from the Queen of England to world "religious leaders" praised the TRC and Canada in general - while thousands of survivors of residential schools were left out in the cold, once more.
They came from all over Canada, at their own expense - the TRC refused to help with survivors' travel costs - to tell of what they suffered at residential school, and how it continues. But in most cases, they were never heard.
One voice was: that of Peter Yellow Quill, who is a traditional chief of the Anishinabe Nation in central Manitoba. Along with members of the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) in Winnipeg, Peter organized a protest outside the TRC forum that called for a genuine inquiry, especially into the more than 50,000 children who died in the residential schools. He also spoke inside the forum, which he described:
"Your statement had to be screened first. Then you were given a few minutes at the mike. But I noticed there was no court reporter present, so none of what was heard had any legal weight and wasn't on the record. That's an old Indian Affairs trick: smoke and mirrors, and nothing changes.
"I told the commissioners that they were engaged in a massive fraud and they would face an accounting for covering up these crimes. And I was glad to see our people there ignore the censorship and name the names of their abusers."
Peter did more than protest: on July 3, he returned to Winnipeg with soil from two Indian residential schools to conduct a commemoration ceremony for the disappeared children. Timed to coincide with the Queen of England's appearance that day, Peter's action was followed by his delivery of a proclamation to the Queen.
Citing the treaty signed by his ancestors with the English Crown in 1870, Peter's statement read,
"As we did not cede or surrender our land, faith, sovereignty or our children, is is with due respect that we inform you that we are not your subjects. You are not our sovereign ... nor are we Indians of the Indian Act ... the rape and murder, neglect and cover up of the death of thousands of First Nations children and their blood that cries out, must compel your majesty to break the deafening silence from her throne and without reservation, condemn these acts of terror that were committed in her name and that of her governments. "
Peter's statement follows on a Letter of Demand issued to the Queen in January, 2008 by the FRD asking her to identify and repatriate the remains of all children who died in Canadian Indian residential schools - a letter which she never answered.
"It will take more than this" commented Peter Yellow Quill after his ceremony.
"That's why I am honored to be traveling in September with the FRD delegation to London, to Geneva, and to Rome, to force the Queen and the Pope to respond. But it's up to all of our people to start speaking out about what they know."
Peter's action, and the FRD protests, were reported in only one Canadian newspaper. The next day, on July 4, FRD members in downtown Toronto held up signs to the Queen's entourage which displayed the 2008 letter to her, declaring "TRC: Tyrannical, Ruthless Criminals".
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ..
The Ripple becomes a Wave:
An International Tribunal is Born
Eight groups in five countries united under a common banner on June 15, 2010 to establish an international tribunal to bring the Vatican, and other churches, to justice.
Fed up with government and police collusion in protecting church child rapists, and the apparent immunity from prosecution of the churches themselves, survivors of church terror established The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) on the basis of five general principles: Full reparations for survivors, Full disclosure of the crimes, Repatriation of the dead, Criminal prosecution of those responsible, and Preventative measures to ensure that the crimes against children end.
The sponsoring organizations of the ITCCS include the Templemore Forgotten Victims of Antrim in Ireland, Survivors of Clergy Abuse of Australia, The Akha Heritage Foundation of Thailand, The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared of Canada, Against Church Terror Coalition of America, SAPED and the Cultural Foundation Native Expressions of Canada.
The first joint action of the ITCCS will be in London, England on September 17, 2010, to protest the visit by Pope Joseph Ratzinger to Parliament, and then to Westminster Cathedral.
After that, the ITCCS delegation will continue to Geneva, Rome and other European cities to conduct public actions, and build support for the criminal prosecution of the Pope and other church officials for their crimes against children, and humanity. Interest has already been shown for the ITCCS campaign by politicians in the Italian and European parliaments, and major media networks will be covering the tour.
The full program of the ITCCS is displayed in the appendix (below). Please circulate this to your local media and networks, and consider endorsing and joining the Tribunal. Help to build local ITCCS tribunals in your community to put the torturers of children on trial - and promote the ITCCS tour in Europe. A new website for the ITCCS is forthcoming; contact with the Tribunal can be made for now through this email.
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......
More Proof that Bingo Dawson was Murdered:
The Questionable Coroner's Report
by Kevin Annett
My dear friend, and a leader of our Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) group in Vancouver, Johnny Bingo Dawson, died last December 5. An eyewitness saw him beaten severely by three Vancouver policemen two days before he died. But a recently released Vancouver Coroner's report that was just mailed to me claims that Bingo died of "presumed alcohol withdrawal", even though the toxicology exam found no alcohol in his bloodstream!
The autopsy and toxicology report was issued last December 21, but not until June 4 of this year was the final report signed and issued. And yet, contrarily, the Chief Coroner who conducted the exam, Matt Brown, told me last March 10 that his report on Bingo was "still pending".
So why did the Coroner lie to me then? Why did he sit on the report for over five months? And why does that report "presume" that Bingo died of alcohol withdrawal when he lacked any alcohol in his bloodstream? A "presumption" means that no definite or clear cause of death is apparent. Bingo, then, officially died of no discernible cause.
That, of course, is what any fudged report will claim if it aims to conceal a person's actual cause of death: in this case, a murderous beating by police.
Things get even more suspect when one considers the term used by Coroner Brown to describe Bingo's condition at his time of death, "delirium tremens", or "DT" in coroner's parlance.
DT is a condition in a severe alcoholic characterized by anxiety, tremors, nausea and fever, but which results in death only in 5% of cases - and these symptoms occur in the victim 48 or more hours before death.
And yet according to several people who saw him the day before he died, he displayed none of these symptoms. Ricky Lavallee saw him about twelve hours before his death, and claims that Bingo was calm, coherent and healthy, but very sore and bruised from his assault by the cops.
The contradictory Coroner's report, and the evasive and delaying behaviour of its author, Matt Brown, points strongly towards a cover-up of foul play: especially considering the witnessed beating of Bingo.
Bingo Dawson is one of five of our people who have died since December - all of them indigenous activists.
Bingo was a marked man: the police and church officials in downtown Vancouver wanted him out of the way, since he had led church occupations about the murdered residential school children, and stood up to police brutality against the homeless. I even witnessed a police staff sergeant threaten Bingo to his face, warning that he would be "dealt with" if he continued the church occupations, not a week before his beating.
Don't let those responsible cover-up his murder. Demand from the Vancouver Coroner's office a true explanation of what killed him. Let's hold a genuine inquiry into his death, and never cease remembering and protesting what happened to our brave brother!
Contact the Vancouver Coroner's office at and ask for Matt Brown, or the toxicologist Dr. Walter Martz or Dr. Douglas Weber. Bingo's case number is BCCS No. 09-280-0149.
Stay tuned to our Hidden from History program every Monday from 1-2 pm pacific time at www.coopradio. org , for updates on this campaign.
Bingo Dawson lives!
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ........
Does the Pope Really Own the Entire World? A Reflection on what we really face
by Kevin Annett
Do you ever wonder how the Roman Catholic church has gotten away with rape, murder and torture for nearly two thousand years, and stolen other peoples' lands in the name of "god"?
There are a lot of obvious explanations, including the power of money and Empire, and the 15th century papal bulls called Romanus Pontifex and Inter Catera that dispossessed all non-Christians of their lands, and carved up the planet between Spain and Portugal.
But even those laws don't explain how one institution can commit so many crimes without facing any consequences. I believe you have to go back a lot further in time to find the cause: in a forged document called the "Donation of Constantine" cooked up by Vatican lawyers in the ninth century.
The Donation claimed to be a statement signed by the Emperor Constantine - the guy who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire - which was issued just before he died in the year 337. In it, Constantine transfers all of the authority, as well as the land and wealth of the Roman Empire, into the hands of the Catholic church.
The significance of this document is that every subsequent Pope used it to justify their claim of absolute power over all governments on earth. In effect, because the church was and is seen as the continuation of the Pax Romana, or the single supreme empire on earth, the Pope assumes authority over all peoples and their governments, including all non-Christians; and he can depose them at will.
This handy lie allowed the church to sanctify the conquest of much of the world, and murder untold millions of people. But it also allows the Vatican today to thumb its nose at the law of any country when it tries to bring priests - and the pope himself - to trial for raping and torturing children, or concealing those crimes.
After all, it's not simply because the Vatican claims status as a "state" - thanks to an Italian law of 1929, courtesy of Benito Mussolini, that made it so - that its lawyers claim the Pope is "diplomatically immune" from prosecution. For heads of state themselves can be tried under international law for crimes against humanity, which includes child rape, sex trafficking and other normal pastimes among Catholic clergy. Something more fundamental is used to justify the Vatican's immunity from prosecution or accountability: namely, the Donation and the mystique of infallible power generated by it.
The fact that the Donation has been repeatedly proven to be a forgery hasn't deterred the Vatican from relying on it as the basis of their authority on earth - and their exemption from laws and accountability for their crimes. But since we know that "fraud invalidates all claims", then this enormous historical fraud negates the present defense by the Vatican that it cannot be judged or tried in civil courts for crimes by its priests because it is under a separate jurisdiction: its own.
Real justice is not possible while this gargantuan fraud by the church is aided and abetted by compliant governments afraid of catholic voter disapproval, or who themselves are complicit in crimes against the innocent. But first, the fraud must be exposed, and the church's claim of absolute supremacy and legal untouchability denied and thwarted.
Someone once told me that trying to unseat the oldest power on earth is impossible, insane, and suicidal. I prefer not to ask whether something is possible, but rather, whether it is necessary. Once we know the answer to that, then the course of action of any man or woman of integrity is decided.
The cries of the murdered children, and those who suffer today and will be victims tomorrow, are the voices that I listen to when it comes to how to deal with the crimes of the church. We have no course, ultimately, than to end what has caused these crimes, by uprooting the mentality and the lies which sanctify the violation and murder of the innocent by a church corporation that places itself above all laws.
We are in a revolution, people. We must put an end to the false church.
My not so humble opinion. Let me know yours.
............ ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ....
Appendix:
Statement of Aims for
The International Tribunal into
Crimes of Church and State
Note: The term "Church" refers to both Catholic and Protestant denominations, and any religious organization complicit in these crimes
1. Full Reparations: Genuine restorative measures and payments are required, on terms dictated by survivors and their families. The Church must pay for all costs incurred by their victims as a result of their abuse by the Church, including all medical bills, counseling, vocational retraining, loss of income and education, and other expenses. The Church must return all land and property taken from their victims, evacuate illegally occupied land of indigenous people, and restore all the wealth generated by their exploitation of their victims.
2. Full Disclosure: The Church must be compelled to surrender all evidence, documentation and forensic remains, and all witnesses and perpetrators, connected to crimes against persons under their care or in their institutions. The Church must openly and fully participate without conditions in public and legal inquiries into their crimes.
3. Repatriation and Memorials: The Church must surrender for a proper burial the remains of all those who died under their care or in their institutions, without conditions and at church expense. Public memorial sites and museums must be established to record these crimes, the names of the dead, their cause of death and the names of those responsible.
4. Criminal Prosecution: The persons and institutions responsible for the suffering and death of children must be arrested, tried and sentenced in courts of law and as part of an International Commission of Inquiry. No form of immunity, exemption or protection regarding the Church, diplomatic or otherwise, can impede this legal process.
5. Preventative Measures: To ensure that these crimes against the innocent never happen again, the Church must lose all special privileges and immunities which set it above and beyond the law, and be re-established as a public, accountable institution. All clergy and church officials must be licensed and monitored as public servants, and be subject to review, discipline and loss of licensing. All Church tax exemptions must be abolished, and the Church and its property and wealth nationalized. All diplomatic recognition and governmental status of the Vatican must be annulled. All Church laws and policies which harm others and conceal criminal acts by the Church will be abolished. Known offenders among clergy and other Church personnel will be publicly identified and registered, and monitored by the community. No Church body larger than an individual congregation will be allowed to legally exist or operate.
This statement has so far been endorsed by over fifty individuals and the following organizations:
Templemore Forgotten Victims (Antrim, Ireland)
Survivors of Clergy Abuse Australia
Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Canada)
Shuswap Association for the Promotion of Eco-Development (SAPED - Canada)
Against Church Terror (ACT) - United States
Cultural Foundation Native Expressions (Canada)
Republican Party of Kanata (Canada)
Akha Heritage Foundation (United States - Thailand)
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