When you say that abusing and being abused was part of advancing in the church, what does that mean? Ex. If there is a 'corrupt' church leader, he may give promotions to people he abuses, but that would be different from a widespread general understanding in the church that you have to abuse and be abused to get ahead. Anything I can read on this?
During the Middle Ages, at the height of the Church's power, the top levels were pretty decadent, and anyone not "partaking" in the culture would have been shut out from advancement. Admittedly it's speculative on my part to assume this applies to pedophilia as well, since any records of that have long been destroyed, but its a common feature of groups like the Vatican was.
When you say that abusing and being abused was part of advancing in the church, what does that mean? Ex. If there is a 'corrupt' church leader, he may give promotions to people he abuses, but that would be different from a widespread general understanding in the church that you have to abuse and be abused to get ahead. Anything I can read on this?
How to put it...you know Borgia? The Pope everyone hates and is a synonym of corruption? He was the least corrupt pope for 100 years on either side.
During the Middle Ages, at the height of the Church's power, the top levels were pretty decadent, and anyone not "partaking" in the culture would have been shut out from advancement. Admittedly it's speculative on my part to assume this applies to pedophilia as well, since any records of that have long been destroyed, but its a common feature of groups like the Vatican was.