In a Sunday, April 10 Uhuru Radio interview, Chairman Omali Yeshitela slammed the Catholic Church as a “criminal enterprise,” a “white nationalist” organization in which sexual abuse is “institutionalized worldwide.”
Summing up the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal on the Africa Live show, hosted by Nyabinga Dzimbahwe, Chairman Omali described the Catholic Church as representing “the morality of imperialism,” built on massive enslavement, theft, genocide and colonialism.
It is clear, the Chairman stated, that the cases of brutal sexual abuse are not exceptions but built into the structure of the church and are happening everywhere.
As the church and the office of Pope Joseph Ratzinger reel from the growing exposure of massive complicity in their worldwide pattern of the sexual abuse of children, new allegations are emerging of clergy abuse of children in Africa.
A Reuters news article from April 8 states, “'Sexual abuse by Catholic priests is a scourge in Africa as well as the Western countries where scandals have badly hurt the Vatican’s image,' a leading African Catholic archbishop has said.”
The article goes on to quote the bishop as saying that “’the misbehavior of priests in Africa has not been exposed to the same glare of the media as in other parts of the world.”
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has admitted to 40 complaints of abuses over 14 years, over half of which involved teenage girls.
The Reuters article also notes that Catholic priests have been accused of aiding Rwanda’s imperialist-backed genocide.
In addition an April 11 article from the Associated Press has reported from Nairobi, Kenya:
“After three young men and a boy told police last June an Italian priest had been sexually molesting them for years at a shelter for poor children, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Kenya announced the church would investigate thoroughly.
“Ten months later, nothing has been investigated by the church, its lawyer says, and the Vatican has not been notified.
“The accused priest, the Rev. Renato Kizito Sesana, continues to run the facility along with other shelters on the outskirts of Nairobi.” The AP article continues, “It is unclear whether the abuse took place or not, but the church’s response—or lack of it—has inspired furious debate in Kenya…
“The case made headlines when the four went to police to accuse the priest of molesting them at a shelter where they lived. They said the abuse began when they were aged 11, 13, 14 and 16. The allegations triggered public outrage..”
This is why African workers need power in our own hands. Down with imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism in all its forms!
Victory to the struggle to unite and liberate Africa and African people worldwide!
See the related article: The Roman Catholic Church crisis is a crisis of imperialism
