{"id":7223,"date":"2010-04-01T16:21:39","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T22:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/?p=7223"},"modified":"2010-04-01T16:21:39","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T22:21:39","slug":"in-defense-of-pope-benedict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/","title":{"rendered":"In defense of Pope Benedict"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dear Editor: <\/strong>I commend Pope Benedict XVI for not being intimidated by the petty gossip of the media and other false critics seeking to smear the pope and bring down the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

The Pope is completely innocent and is doing everything in his power to weed out those\u00a0 priests guilty of sexual abuse, and to justly compensate victims for their suffering. In fact he is the one above all else in society who has tackled these things head on.<\/p>\n

Contrary to his critics\u00a0 the most comprehensive statistics to date indicate: 1) Priestly celibacy is not the issue – married men are more likely to abuse children than unmarried.<\/p>\n

2) Child abuse is prevalent in all areas of society. Most child abuse takes place within the home.<\/p>\n

3) All religious groups have pedophile scandals, and the Catholics (while the largest religious group) are at the bottom of the list statistically.<\/p>\n

4) Catholic cases of pedophilia make more headlines because of anti Catholic prejudice and because the Catholic Church is bigger and more lucractive to sue. When lawsuits are looming people smell money. We must be wary of false accusations.<\/p>\n

5) Most cases branded ‘pedophila’ are actually homosexual in nature, however the politically correct do not want this problem to be associated with homosexuality.<\/p>\n

6) What we now call ‘cover up’ was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events thirty years ago by today’s standards.<\/p>\n

I am in no way wishing to be soft of pedophiles and those who covered for them, however justice and truth demand an objective analysis of the facts.<\/p>\n

– Paul Kokoski; he is a resident and native of Canada and an avid reader of DNO.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Dominica News Online and its parent company.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Editor: I commend Pope Benedict XVI for not being intimidated by the petty gossip of the media and other false critics seeking to smear the pope and bring down the Catholic Church. The Pope is completely innocent and is…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":7222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Editor: I commend Pope Benedict XVI for not being intimidated by the petty gossip of the media and other false critics seeking to smear the pope and bring down the Catholic Church. The Pope is completely innocent and is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"286\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\"},\"headline\":\"In defense of Pope Benedict\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"commentCount\":23,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/04\\\/editorLogo111.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Letters to the Editor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/\",\"name\":\"In defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/04\\\/editorLogo111.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/04\\\/editorLogo111.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/04\\\/editorLogo111.jpg\",\"width\":\"286\",\"height\":\"194\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/features\\\/letters-to-the-editor\\\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In defense of Pope Benedict\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dominica News Online\",\"description\":\"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/tdurand\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online","og_description":"Dear Editor: I commend Pope Benedict XVI for not being intimidated by the petty gossip of the media and other false critics seeking to smear the pope and bring down the Catholic Church. The Pope is completely innocent and is...","og_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/","og_site_name":"Dominica News Online","article_published_time":"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":286,"height":194,"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed"},"headline":"In defense of Pope Benedict","datePublished":"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/"},"wordCount":355,"commentCount":23,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","articleSection":["Letters to the Editor"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/","name":"In defense of Pope Benedict - Dominica News Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-01T22:21:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","width":"286","height":"194"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/letters-to-the-editor\/in-defense-of-pope-benedict\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In defense of Pope Benedict"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/","name":"Dominica News Online","description":"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42ebaab81cf135a4ac3c52a6b343fa681417839645e8852f990f1e435612b089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/author\/tdurand\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/editorLogo111.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7225,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223\/revisions\/7225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}