Really, Catholic Church? Institutional baby trafficking?

Up to 300,000 Spanish babies were stolen from their parents and sold for adoption over a period of five decades, a new investigation reveals.

The children were trafficked by a secret network of doctors, nurses, priests and nuns in a widespread practice that began during General Franco’s dictatorship and continued until the early Nineties.

Hundreds of families who had babies taken from Spanish hospitals are now battling for an official government investigation into the scandal.

Several mothers say they were told their first-born children had died during or soon after they gave birth.

Well, the only solution for alleged Scrabble cheating is to have the players play naked.

Really, Catholic Church? Institutional baby trafficking?

Yeah, I'm just not surprised anymore....

Well, the only solution for alleged Scrabble cheating is to have the players play naked.

Two words: cavity search.

Strip Scrabble? might do wonders for the literacy rate ....

David,

that is really shocking. One of the comments on the article says not to blame the Catholic church, but it was the actions of its members that was at issue.

However, when we are talking about several thousand babies, nevermind 300,000 babies, I think that is an institutional failing and not one that can simply be attributed to a handful of nurses, doctors, priests and nuns.

Two words: cavity search.

To dissuade Scrabble players from hiding letters in body cavities, the letters could be made radioactive. Then each time a player puts down a letter, it would be checked for radioactivity.

One of the comments on the article says not to blame the Catholic church, but it was the actions of its members that was at issue.

I don't think it's unfair to blame the hierarchy of the Church in Spain, anyway: obviously many priests and bishops had to be in the know in order to pull all that off for so long.

It's all so sad.

I definitely prefer E to W. I somehow made it back from France with no discernible jet lag, but the redeyes from the west coast always kill me. I even went to see 50/50 on the way home from the airport, AIFG.

However, when we are talking about several thousand babies, nevermind 300,000 babies, I think that is an institutional failing and not one that can simply be attributed to a handful of nurses, doctors, priests and nuns.

It is absolutely an institutional failing. Though "failing" suggests a sin of omission, or oversight rather than commission. And I believe the Spanish Catholic Church knew exactly what it was doing, and protected and promoted this trafficking. It's not like they'd ever have any reason to question their monopoly on the right-behavior.

I'm going to have to slot this after the institutional practice of protecting and shuffling around pedophile priests from parish to parish, and maybe after the Magdalene Sisters which still gets me crazy angry.

Though I have to say, sexually abusing children, stealing babies and enslaving wayward girls is quite a trifecta of evil.