Cited: AP

On May 29th, the Vatican prosecutor, Rev. Charles Scicluna, gave a warning to the pedophile priests. In essence, he told them they would suffer damnation in hell and it was worse than any death penalty. The Maltese priest who is a top official at the Vatican’s morality office a led a special “make amends” prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica. The service grew out of a desire by some seminarians in Rome for a day of prayers for the victims of clergy abuse and for the healing of the church’s wounds from the scandal over its concealment of abuse.

“It would be really better” for priests who sexually abuse minors that their crimes “cause them death” because for them, “damnation will be more terrible” in hell, Il Sole 24 Ore online news reported.

The Vatican said it didn’t immediately have the text of the meditation Scicluna delivered for the two-hour prayer service attended by seminarians and other students of religion.

Scicluna has been leading the Vatican’s drive to rid the church of pedophile priests. Many victims’ groups say the Vatican must admit responsibility for a decades-old culture of secrecy and systematic cover-ups.

Participants at the ceremony asked for prayers “for the victims of abuses perpetrated by men and women of the Church, so that they can heal their wounds and experience true peace,” ANSA reported. Prayers were also offered for clerics and other religious who committed abuses “so that, in the light of day, they can honestly face up to the consequences of their guilt and embrace the needs of justice,” it said.

Scicluna, who could not immediately be reached for comment, began with a meditation from St. Mark’s Gospel saying those who harm children would be better off tying a millstone to their neck and throwing themselves into the sea.

Earlier in the week, the Catholic news agency Zenit reported that several seminary students, including from Britain and the United States, decided to have the prayer service in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s harsh letter to Irish bishops in March.

In that letter, Benedict chastised bishops in that predominantly Catholic nation for making grave errors of judgment about the abuse. But he didn’t blame Vatican policies that kept the abuse secret for making the situation worse and he issued no punishment for the bishops.

The Vatican considers any scandal in the Italian church to be delicate. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, stated it may be possible that sex abuse by clergy may have been covered up in Italy when speaking to his churchmen. He also stated that the bishops should follow the guidelines set down by the Vatican in dealing with abuse allegations.

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My Take: Vatican prosecutor? Well, I guess since their considered an independent country that they would have their own prosecutor. But if they had their own prosecutor, why have they not been prosecuting their priestly pedophiles? Are they waiting for the Wellington FL family attorneys to show up or what? If that’s the case, and I was a West Palm Beach FL family lawyer, I would be on your doorstep in a snap!

Priests never seem to have a need for Manhattan employment lawyers. But they do seem to have a need for criminal lawyers! You never hear about a New York employment discrimination lawyer been hired by a priest, do you? But it seems in recent decades, priests have had need for criminal lawyers a lot. That is, if the church doesn’t I need the accusations or crimes.

In fact, I think I have heard more about priests having problems with online casino gambling than anything else. It seems with the technology age it is much easier to play blackjack online than to go to a real casino.

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