Nowadays, the catholic church is getting on the wrong side of the society and history and that too in each passing day. We all know that the Catholic church’s inception was about 2,000 years ago. In addition, the church has resisted change which has drastically affected its membership, thereby reducing it. This is quite common in developed countries around the world.
Amidst all this, the scandal has made the Pope in a tough spot, where each and every move of his is getting scrutinized. Here one important thing to note is that the church has eschewed all kinds of pleas which are related to being more tolerant in issues that are directly as well as indirectly related to sexuality.
Now the question might arise in your mind is that can the church’s intransigent attitude on sexuality be one of the major reasons for the declining reputation and issues? Well, the answer could be positive. Following are some of the major issues and scandals that is affecting the status of the church in today’s society.
Scandals Catholic Church Is Facing
• Sexual Scandal
For many years, decades and even the centuries, the catholic church was swept with sexual misconduct regarding its priests under the table. Now the irresponsible actions of the priests has somehow reached to a crescendo in the coming months. And this has been aggressive reported by the media.
Various people are now believing that homosexuality and pedophilia are becoming a major issue within the walls of the churches. It has even affected rectories globally. Keep in mind that pedophilia is unacceptable and illegal in the society. But the church forbids heterosexual and homosexual activities of priests.
Now the situation has reached to epic proportions since more and more charges are being levied against the bishops, priests, cardinals, etc. Frankly, the most disgraceful aspect of this sordid side of the church is the cover-up. Now the cover-ups is in three forms.
The first one is church is protects the so-called priest who have acted improperly. Second is the church pays the victim to be silent. Lastly, the pedophiles are transferred to another diocese where they end up destroying more lives. Frankly, the longstanding policy of the church won’t encourage adjudication of criminal offenses from the priest which really must end.
- Celibacy
Some years back an article was written in New York Times regarding about celibacy. It suggested that it might be too much to ask a man from abstaining his entire life. So, the rules related to celibacy among the catholic priests also need to be considered.
Through the procedure of celibacy, here the church is in certain ways encouraging aberrant behaviors. This is why physical contact of priests with men and pedophilia is getting common.
- Birth Control
Under any circumstances, Catholics are n0t allowed to use birth control. Surely, this is one of the most harmful and backward restrictions among the religious canon.
It can be confusing to most people to know why the church is against the safe and effective way of controlling the family size (I.e. the population). Now it can be really surprising to know why the church is objecting the birth control when it can easily prevent diseases like STDs and AIDS.
- Homosexuality
Now the church thinks of the homosexual relationships among women and men to be sinful and anti-social. They feel that such perspective is very much unacceptable in today’s civilized world. Nowadays, the developed nations are increasing their tolerance towards alternative lifestyle, still the Catholic church are very much adamant and against same sex marriages.
- Female Priests
It is surprising to see that there aren’t any conceivable reasons on the resistance that church is doing over the ordination of female priests. Most of the other religions around the world have started to accept women priest. It is really sad and shameful to see that women aren’t treated in an equal manner with their male counterparts.
- Premarital Sex
For many years, the Catholic church has traditionally frowned over the sexual relationship among men and women. Here the threat of eternal damnation for the act that is considered to be beautiful as well as natural is shocking as well as destructive.
Here those individuals who want to wait till marriage to have sex are commended. But it is important that one who enjoys having sexual relationship with their loved ones before marriage must not be condemned. This kind of restriction is the most prominent example of how much backward the church is really now.
Closing Thoughts
The scandals of Catholic church is something that has been glaring the media attention for quite a long time. Well, the time has come to bring some changes in the management and rules of the Catholic church, so that they can be less attention to the ancient rules of this prestigious religion.