The John-Henry Westen Show - Episode 5： Pope Francis’ disturbing support of a Cardinal caught covering up sex abuse

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome to the John Henry Weston show. I'm the co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSite

00:00:11.400 News. Pope Francis' relationship with a Cardinal caught on tape covering up sexual abuse. While

00:00:18.600 some have suggested that pointing out errors of the Pope even when the faith is endangered

00:00:22.800 is not permissible, the former Cardinal heading up the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith,

00:00:29.160 Cardinal Gerhard Muller told us, and I quote, the primacy of the Pope is being undermined by the

00:00:35.460 sycophants and careerists at the papal court and not by those who counsel the Pope in a manner

00:00:41.860 competent and responsible. Cardinal Muller referred to a quote from the famous 16th century theologian

00:00:49.680 Melchior Cano, and I quote, now it can be said briefly that those who defend blindly and

00:00:55.500 indiscriminately any judgment whatsoever of the supreme pontiff concerning every matter

00:01:01.420 weaken the authority of the apostolic see. They do not support it. They subvert it. They do not

00:01:07.680 fortify it. Peter, he said, has no need of our lies. He has no need of our adulation, end quote.

00:01:15.440 So let's start with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,

00:01:20.100 and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Cardinal Godfrey Daniels died on March 14th this year.

00:01:28.600 We pray earnestly that God may have mercy on his soul, and in truth, he needs those prayers very

00:01:36.100 much. The Cardinal should have been one of the most controversial prelates in the Catholic Church,

00:01:42.620 especially in our times, because he was caught on tape in 2010 telling a victim of pedophile sexual abuse

00:01:49.860 by a bishop friend of his not to go public with the abuse. But Cardinal Daniels was in the limelight

00:01:57.160 with Pope Francis. At his death, Pope Francis sent a telegram commenting on Cardinal Daniels saying

00:02:03.940 these words, and I quote, this zealous pastor served the church with dedication, not only in his diocese,

00:02:12.160 but also at the national level as president of the Conference of Bishops of Belgium, while being a member

00:02:17.740 of various Roman dicasteries. Attentive to the challenges of the contemporary church, Cardinal Daniels

00:02:24.660 also took an active role in various synods of bishops, including those of 2014 and 2015, on the

00:02:31.680 family. End quote. Those words of the Pope are very difficult to reconcile with Cardinal Daniels,

00:02:40.040 since he opposed the church's teaching on homosexuality. You can see him here, dressed in a

00:02:45.860 so-called rainbow stole. In May 2013, the Cardinal expressed his support for homosexual unions to

00:02:52.460 Dutch-language newspaper De Tide. He said, and I quote, I think it's a positive development that

00:02:59.120 states are free to open up civil marriage for gays if they want. End quote. The French-language

00:03:05.280 newspaper Lekho also quoted the Cardinal, saying that the French people should, and I quote,

00:03:09.960 obey the law, and not, quote, oppose gay marriage. But despite this reputation, as you can see

00:03:17.440 in this video footage, Cardinal Daniels was one of the few Cardinals Pope Francis chose

00:03:23.160 to come out on the balcony with him at his election to the pontificate. Cardinal Daniels

00:03:28.520 was one of the personal appointees of Pope Francis to the First and Second Synods on the Family

00:03:33.820 in 2014 and 2015. Also in 2015, two Belgian politicians reported to the media that Cardinal

00:03:40.800 Daniels tried to persuade King Bedouin to sign the 1990 abortion bill into law. And apart

00:03:48.000 from Cardinal Daniels' dissent on Catholic teaching on life and family, his notorious reputation

00:03:55.100 as a pedophile bishop protector should give anyone, even non-Catholics, pause. Let me quote

00:04:02.000 to you from the Reuters journalist who went through those horrible, secretly taped sessions

00:04:07.940 between Cardinal Daniels and the sexual abuse victim who was abused by a bishop friend of

00:04:13.100 the Cardinal from the time he was five until he was 18 years old. Reuters journalist Tom

00:04:20.100 Hennigan reported, and I quote, In the published transcripts of that meeting, the unnamed victim,

00:04:26.580 now 42, told Daniels he could no longer keep quiet about how his uncle, Bishop,

00:04:31.980 Roger Vangel Wee, sexually abused him between the ages of five and 18. He says Vangel Wee could 0.97

00:04:38.420 not remain in office and the case must be reported to the church hierarchy, but he doesn't know

00:04:43.600 how to do this. What do you really want? asks Daniels, cutting the victim off by saying he

00:04:50.360 already knows the story and doesn't need to hear it again. When the man says, I give you

00:04:55.560 the responsibility, I can't decide. You should do what you think should be done because I

00:05:00.400 don't know how this whole system works.

00:05:02.000 Do you want this to be made public? asks the Cardinal. I leave that to you, the victim

00:05:08.360 responds. Then Daniels begins his effort to convince him to keep the lid on the problem.

00:05:15.000 The bishop will step down next year, so actually it would be better for you to wait, says Cardinal

00:05:20.600 Daniels.

00:05:21.440 No, I can't agree that he takes his leave in glory. I can't do that, the victim replies.

00:05:28.540 At one point, Daniels ducks and weaves, trying to fend off the victim's pleas to inform the

00:05:33.440 church hierarchy about Vangel Wee's misdeeds. At another point, Daniels suggested the victim

00:05:39.760 admit his guilt and ask for forgiveness. Who do I have to ask forgiveness from, the surprised

00:05:45.340 man asks. When Daniels suggests that the victim may be trying to blackmail the church, the

00:05:51.140 man pleads with him to take up his case, saying there has to be someone in the church who

00:05:56.480 can handle it because he cannot bring himself to expose his uncle on his own.

00:06:02.480 We were forced to get married by him. Our children were baptized by him. How can I explain this

00:06:07.640 to them? he asked. Yesterday I said to my oldest son, look, this is what happened to me. They

00:06:12.920 must know what has happened.

00:06:15.720 How indeed could Pope Francis be associated so closely with Cardinal Daniels?

00:06:22.000 Believe it or not, Daniels was one of the Cardinals who conspired to elect Pope Francis, a truth

00:06:27.360 that comes out in Daniels' own authorized biography. He even did a TV show promoting the book where

00:06:33.880 he explained that he was part of this group called the Sant Gallen Mafia, or Mafia as they

00:06:40.600 called themselves, which fought against Cardinal Ratzinger and worked for Cardinal Bergoglio's

00:06:45.780 election even in the 2005 Conclave.

00:06:48.880 But that is another story. Remember our motto at LifeSite? It's caritas in veritate, the truth

00:06:59.160 in love. And so it's actually out of love for Pope Francis that we want to call him to enunciate

00:07:04.720 the truth and correct the errors that he has taught, which have harmed the faithful.

00:07:10.840 For LifeSite News, I'm John Henry Weston. And remember please to sign up to our email list

00:07:16.140 for this show and encourage your friends to do the same. May God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - April 16, 2019

Episode 5： Pope Francis’ disturbing support of a Cardinal caught covering up sex abuse

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