{"id":117012,"date":"2019-02-20T08:40:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T12:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=117012"},"modified":"2019-02-20T08:40:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T12:40:33","slug":"priestgate-vatican-has-special-rules-for-priests-who-have-fathered-children-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=117012","title":{"rendered":"PRIESTgate: Vatican has special rules for priests who have fathered children (Video)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Vatican secret out: There are rules for priests who father children<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"USATODAY- Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/uw-media.usatoday.com\/embed\/video\/2864568002?placement=snow-embed\" width=\"540\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>An investigation found more than 380 allegations of sexual misconduct by Southern Baptist church leaders over two decades. USA TODAY<\/h5>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">The Catholic Church has required celibacy from its priests for centuries, yet those vows were broken so frequently that the Vatican established a secret set of guidelines for dealing with clerics who fathered children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">This latest revelation, first reported by The New York Times, comes amid a new wave of developments tied to the burgeoning sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church for close to two decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">On Monday, the Diocese of Oakland, California, released a list of 45 clergymen and religious brothers it said have had \u201ccredible accusations\u2019\u2019 of child sexual abuse made against them, going as far back as the 1960s. Several other dioceses have taken similar steps in recent months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">On Saturday, Pope Francis defrocked former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty of a series of sexual crimes, making him the first American cardinal to be expelled from the priesthood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Two weeks ago, Francis acknowledged the long-known but rarely addressed problem of nuns being sexually assaulted by priests.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-Rk3iju4swsU\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<h5 class=\"wide single-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/14c6b097e6c074dda2ad71241ecee0e4e28ee581\/c=609-0-4889-3218\/local\/-\/media\/2019\/02\/04\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/636848692181027205-AFP-AFP-1D07S6.jpg?width=540&amp;height=405&amp;fit=crop\" alt=\"Pope Francis, who was welcomed by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, right, upon his arrival to the presidential palace in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. The pope has summoned more than 100 cardinals for a summit on sexual abuse.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis, who was welcomed by Abu Dhabi&#8217;s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, right, upon his arrival to the presidential palace in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. The pope has summoned more than 100 cardinals for a summit on sexual abuse.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo11: VINCENZO PINTO, AFP\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/h5>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Now, just ahead of Thursday\u2019s unprecedented meeting of more than 100 bishops summoned to the Vatican to address the sexual misconduct crisis, the Catholic Church faces yet another sexually related controversy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti acknowledged to the Times and other news outlets the existence of the guidelines, although he would not reveal specifically what they are.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Gisotti said the instructions seek to protect the child and require \u2013 others contend they only encourage \u2013 the priest to request a leave from his clerical duties and \u201cas a layman, assume his responsibilities as a parent by devoting himself exclusively\u2019\u2019 to the child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Vincent Doyle, an Irish psychotherapist who learned in his late 20s his father was a priest, told the Times that church leaders initially misled him to believe his was a rare instance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Though there\u2019s no exact count of how many children have been fathered by clergymen, he eventually learned that wasn\u2019t true when an archbishop showed him the Vatican instructions for cases like his.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s the next scandal,\u2019\u2019 Doyle said. \u201cThere are kids everywhere.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Doyle formed a global support group, Coping International, that provides counseling and resources to \u201cchildren of the ordained,\u2019\u2019 as the church calls them. He said the organization\u2019s website has 50,000 users in 175 countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Doyle told CBS News he wants to see them codified so the offspring of clergymen don\u2019t have to live in the shadows. The Irish Catholic Church did as much two years ago, establishing a set of rules that prioritize the child\u2019s well-being and mandate that the priest own up to his parental duties in every way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThe first problem with children of priests is they&#8217;re not recognized,&#8221; Doyle said. \u201cWhen you&#8217;re hidden \u2026 you are characterized by secrecy.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2019\/02\/19\/vaticans-secret-rules-priests-who-father-children\/2918042002\/\">https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2019\/02\/19\/vaticans-secret-rules-priests-who-father-children\/2918042002\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vatican secret out: There are rules for priests who father children<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}