Peter Hitchens in his MoS column/blog wrote a reasonable piece about this film. I didn’t agree with all of it but during the article he highlighted what he called the ways in which modern society prefers to be cruel to children. they were quite extensive.

The Irish State and Society inherited a pretty rotten infra-structure from the previous owners of the country… along with moth-eaten wigs for obese lawyers and judges.

How can he say “The Holy Father does not see films.” There is a report in today’s press, together with a photograph, that the Holy Father has met with Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan, in a private audience, to discuss The Philomena Project.

Is a child, who is being abused by a disgraceful Catholic who has embraced sin, suffering more than another child being abused by a freewheeling atheist?

No.. but an organization that espouses moral values has a higher duty to live by those values than one that doesn’t. For instance, a minister getting caught commiting adultery is more scandalous than a sleazy Wall Street banker doing so because of the hypocrisy involved.

But Ian, surely the Pope is pointing the way to the Lord. Protestants equate Marian devotion, and veneration of the saints etc as idolatry. As Catholics reject that and say,” No. Does the golden calf point beyond himself to the Lord?”
Steve Coogan points towards himself. The man needs an audience and a reputation. He craves one. Quite good as Alan Patridge, but he may be a one-trick pony.

Could you stop trying to pretend that you care so much about children who suffer when the problem is so huge your concentration on the Catholic Church as sole abuser begins to look rather bigoted. The Church is doing more NOW than is being done in other areas. Why are you becoming a great expert on that/

Yes, I’m concentrating on the Church as the abuser being that this is a Catholic website. And not all that has been done with child abuse scandal. Generally when there is a huge scandal the higher-ups in the organization have to resign or are fired because of it. Joe Paterno, lots of the Penn State coaches, and Penn State administration got sacked because of the football scandal. I know of no bishops who have been fired because of this and only a few have had to resign (who were then given cushy positions in Rome.)

Here are two extracts from a press report in a UK national newspaper of today:

1) Ms Lee, accompanied by her daughter Jane Libberton and Coogan, discussed the Philomena Project with the Pope.

2)Vatican officials told her that the Pope probably would see the film.

That is all I know.

Read the McAleese Report and see for yourself…

This is very interesting
http://www.michaeljournal.org/corruptionfashions.asp

Search for the facts yourself and become wiser. are you used to maids? The facts are there, or do you think the US is the world?

You have the mindset of those who blame Pius XII for the Holocaust, as if the German nation were befuddled and twiddling their thumbs, trying vainly to save the Jewish nation. You are like the trader who kept his thumb on the scales, but you can be clearly seen here.

I have read the McAleese report very carefully. Having done so I still would not presume to make judgements on behalf of those who were subjected to the regimes in the laundries. They have spoken for themselves.

The fact that others did nothing doesn’t excuse Pius XII from criticism and introspection. It is a debate that scholars are allowed to have.

And I can assure you that I’ve never covered up child sexual abuse.

And again.. Which bishops have been fired for covering up child sexual abuse?

One exception perhaps. He was leading a double life. He was sick. He went both ways and even with teenage boys. So that’s not too conservative in my view…

Apparently, she was accompanied by Diane Sawyer from ABC News and Diane Sawyer had a report on it for the news in the U.S. It seems that Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan met with Pope Francis for a few minutes after the General Audience. The Vatican later held a screening of the movie. The Pope didn’t attend but one of his secretaries and the bishop in charge of one of the Pontifical academies did. Both are Argentines and the news hinted that Francis sent close colleagues and that he was tacitly expressing solidarity with Philomena’s cause. (Diane Sawyer did keep stating that it was a Mass rather than the Wednesday General Audience.)

The church uses guilt and plays on vulnerable people’s (children, the poor) insecurities in order to control, bully, and manipulate. Heavy emphasis on sex and money, good that these things are now being brought more into the open.