Before You Praise the Catholic Church, Ask the Children It Hurt

My attention has been drawn to an article circulating widely—one which heaps glowing praise on the Catholic Church, portraying it as the fountain of enlightenment, the custodian of knowledge, and the harbinger of civilization. It goes further to romanticize the papacy as a coterie of intellectual titans, boasting multiple PhDs and contributing to science, ethics, and culture.

But let us pause and examine the foundation of such claims.

This narrative, like many others sponsored by White supremacist historiography and its apologists, is yet another calculated attempt to overwrite and repackage Africa’s ancient and unbroken epistemological legacy. Because if we are to speak of the origins of knowledge, the record is unambiguous:

• The world’s oldest known human remains found at Jebel Irhoud were discovered in Morocco, North Africa. These fossils date back approximately 300,000 years, and are widely regarded as the earliest known evidence of Homo sapiens—confirming that modern humans originated in Africa.
• Long before Jebel Irhoud, Lucy’s discovery in 1974 provided groundbreaking evidence of early human ancestors. Discovered in Ethiopia and said to be 3.2 million years old, she belongs to the species Australopithecus afarensis, an early hominin that walked upright but had ape-like features.
  While not a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens, Lucy is a key piece of human evolutionary history, showing how early humans transitioned from ape-like ancestors.

• Africa is the true cradle of written language. Long before Europe carved its first syllables into clay, Africa had already birthed sophisticated writing systems like Medu Neter (hieroglyphs) around 3200 BCE, as well as indigenous scripts such as Nsibidi and Tifinagh. These forms of writing predate Europe’s earliest attempt—Linear A from the Minoans around 1800 BCE, which remains undeciphered to this day. Even Europe’s first readable script, Linear B, didn’t appear until 1450 BCE with the Mycenaean Greeks. This historical timeline dismantles the Eurocentric myth of intellectual primacy and affirms Africa’s foundational role in the evolution of global literacy and civilization.

• Herodotus, revered as the “Father of Western History”, documented that the Greeks (Plato, Thales, Pythagoras, Aristotle et cetera) learned from African scholars, including Imhotep, the world’s first recorded physician and polymath.
  
• From Kemet (now popularly called Egypt) to Timbuktu, Africa built institutions long before European Enlightenment.

Thus, the praise showered upon the Church as the wellspring of civilization not only distorts history but whitewashes the continent from its rightful place as the original teacher of the world.

And while the defenders of the Church trumpet its role in education and science, they too often fall silent about its long and bloody trail of abuses—especially its war against children.

HOW THOUSANDS OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS RAPED CHILDREN

As the article wrote, yes the Catholic Church has produced popes with PhDs and priests who’ve studied astronomy and physics. So, what is there to clap about? Or before we clap, should we not ask: at what cost?

For centuries, children were being raped, molested, and abused within the very same walls where hymns were sung and Latin prayers recited. Not by a few bad apples, but by thousands of priests, across dozens of countries.

• In France, an official report in 2021 said 216,000 children were abused by Catholic clergy since 1950. Add laypeople affiliated with the Church, and the number rises to 330,000.
• In the U.S., the John Jay Report revealed that between 1950 and 2002, over 10,667 children were sexually abused by 4,392 priests.
• In Spain, a 2023 investigation estimated that 200,000 to 440,000 children were abused by clergy since 1940.
• In Ireland, Father Brendan Smyth abused at least 143 children over four decades, protected the entire time by Church authorities.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S COVER-UP

This is a well organized, systemic evil defilement legitimized by the very Catholic Church itself. When priests were caught, the Church didn’t call the police. It transferred them—just like corrupt officers in the Nigerian police force—out of sight, out of trouble. No jail time. No accountability. Just a new parish. A new hunting ground.

Imagine a school where a teacher caught abusing children is simply sent to another classroom. Would you praise that school? Now imagine that happening thousands of times, under full knowledge of the principal. That’s what happened in the Catholic Church.

It gets worse.

• Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, once one of the most powerful men in the U.S. Church, was defrocked in 2019 for sexually abusing minors.
• Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, was convicted in 2019 of abusing choirboys. Though acquitted later on appeal, the stain remains.
• James Porter, a priest in America, confessed to molesting over 100 children. He got 18–20 years in prison.

These are lives—children who cried behind closed sacristy doors. Children who grew up broken, depressed, and in too many cases, dead by suicide. Their faith was weaponized. Their innocence, crushed.

And while this was happening, the Church stood silent.

Yes, the Vatican later issued apologies. But apologies mean little when no full justice is given. Most victims never saw their abusers held accountable. Many were paid hush money. Many were simply ignored.

So, next time someone says, “The Church gave us universities and the Big Bang theory,” ask them: And what did it take from the children?

Before we call it holy, we must name its sins. Before we praise it for education, we must remember how it failed the smallest students. Before we admire its robes and rituals, we must speak for the children whose voices were stolen. A moral institution doesn’t protect rapists in cassocks. A just institution doesn’t hide pedophiles behind stained glass.

No number of books, no degree in theology or quantum physics, can erase the suffering of those children. If you must clap for the Church, first ask: What did the children get?

All, including the same Catholic Church, claim they want Justice. But Justice must begin with truth.