We now know that pedophile scandals were rampant during the era of Pope John Paul II, who chose to turn a blind eye. O’Connor was calling out the right person.
Before "Spotlight," before the worst of the American and Irish church scandals, O'Connor called it right and only got abuse in return.
The enemy has become very obvious since then. The revelation in 2018 that a Pennsylvania grand jury found that more than 1,000 children in six dioceses there had been molested by 300 Catholic priests over the past 70 years while successive church officials covered it up is truly shocking.
Imagine if 300 imams were named as *** abusers of children. The Muslim religion would likely be banned and the imams driven out or jailed.
There is no reason to believe that Pennsylvania is an outrider and that similar scandals were not omnipresent in other dioceses.
The 2018 report was sickening. “During the course of this investigation, the Grand Jury uncovered a ring of predatory priests operating within the [Pittsburgh] Diocese who shared intelligence or information regarding victims as well as exchanging the victims amongst themselves. This ring also manufactured child ****ography . . . [and] used whips, violence, and sadism in raping their victims.”
According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a boy named George, “was forced to stand on a bed in a rectory, strip naked and pose as Christ on the cross for the priests. They took photos of their victim, adding them to a collection of child ****ography which they produced and shared on church grounds.”
It proves that the culture of pedophilia goes very deep and covering it up was the immediate priority. We may only be scratching the surface, as the grand jury said it believed the “real number” of abused children there might be “in the thousands.”
O’Connor had the bravery to point out the reality of the pedophile scandal that would engulf the church. She tore up the pope's picture drawing massive protest down on herself.
A week after O'Connor tore up the Pope's picture, "Saturday Night Live" host Joe Pesci displayed the same torn photo during his monologue, saying he had taped it back together. He received huge applause.