In defence of children, priests and nuns (3)

Perhaps Pope John Paul II, a consummate cold warrior who started for us the bloodless downfall of the USSR, withheld publicity on paedophile priests' crimes for the same security reason that Winston Churchill withheld his warning to Coventry of an impending murderous air raid. The Pope may have thought that to name and shame would be exactly what the moles would desire: bad publicity, disrepute. In 1938, Stalin made young communist men infiltrate the Catholic Church and receive assistance from moles already in place.

They were able to sabotage the Church in myriad ways. Their sworn goal was to completely destroy it. The present scandals seem to be the fallout of that hidden agenda. Paedophile priests might just want to be exposed and have their crimes publicised; all in the war to discredit the Church.

The impetuous Catholics who tell us "I left the Church, last week" may not be aware of the battle going on around them, on their own behalf.

Unpublicised Catholic congregations (referred to as vigilantes by annoyed priests) watch intently to see whether their officiating priest is adhering to the rituals and the liturgy.

They report deft and subtle changes designed to destroy the faith to the Pope. Rome brings these errant priests in line quietly and discreetly. Occasionally, the one persisting in his own brand of Catholic worship is defrocked, as happened last year in Brisbane. We must not forget the heroic nuns and priests in Africa and Asia looking after the downtrodden of humanity and often dying cruel deaths. Morocco is the latest to have religious teachers expelled and Christians in Iraq who antedate Islam are being murdered as we speak. We must bear in mind the religious who attend to the unwanted and unwashed in the USA, Europe and Australia.

So, perhaps, exposing paedophile priests and shaming them is just what they would want us to do; indirectly shaming the Church. Catholics "leaving the Church" would be just playing into these miscreants' hands.