The Catholic Church regrets Jimmy Savile
THE Tablet reports on Jimmy Savile, the papal knight accused of being a paedophile. A spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said the Church would not have awarded Sir Jimmy the honour if it “had been aware of the allegations and the allegations had proved to be true”.
Sir Jimmy scored a Knighthood of the Order of St Gregory the Great in 1990 for his work raising money for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a care home in Leeds.
With a papal knighthood beyond his sweaty grasp, would Savile have settled for being a priest?
It’s not like Savile was, say, Micahel Hill, the priest who abused children, some of them disabled:
A paedophile priest who abused nine boys is living rent-free in a flat owned by the Roman Catholic Church, the BBC has discovered. One of Father Michael Hill’s victims said he was “sickened” to learn the disgraced priest was being helped by the Church, 14 months after his release from prison.
The Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton, which had employed Hill as chaplain to Gatwick Airport in 1985 even though he had had his licence revoked, said it had a duty to house him…
And:
Michael Hill’s Bishop knew he was a paedophile but allowed him to continue working. That Bishop was Cormac Murphy O’Connor, then in charge of Arundel and Brighton, now the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal and Head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Who knew about Jimmy Savile? It wasn’t just the BBC…
Posted: 12th, October 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink