On the Recent Developments in the Jussie Smollett Case

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Kim Foxx

In the wake of yesterday's shocking action by Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, in which all 16 felony charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped, CWBChicago obtained a Chicago Police investigative file on the Smollett case under a Freedom of Information Act request. You may read it here and here.

One of the reports in the file states:

The report is being RE-CLASSIFIED from an Aggravated Battery - Hands, Fist, Feet / Minor Injury (0440) to a Public Peace Violations / Other Violation (2890) 

Case re-classification is being done based on the facts of the case, evidence gathered and witness statements.  

Initially, SMOLLETT stated while walking to his residence, he was approached by two offenders who engaged in racial and homophobic slurs directed at SMOLLETT. The offenders then struck the victim about the face and body causing minor injuries. Investigation revealed that a plan was formulated and put into play by SMOLLETT to conduct a staged incident where SMOLLETT was beaten by [redacted] and [redacted] posing as persons other than themselves.  

The file includes a number of interesting and, yes, funny bits to the story not previously known.

Among other things, it appears that Smollett did in fact have bleach applied to him by one of the Nigerian Abimbola "Abel" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo brothers. For some reason they had kept it in a Mexican hot sauce bottle which they subsequently abandoned at the scene:

[Redacted] was shown a large photograph taken of the EL YUCATECO Hot Sauce bottle which was recovered on 07-FEB-2019 near the location listed as 406 North New Street, in Chicago. [Redacted] stated that indeed was the bottle he filled with bleach and poured on SMOLLETT and appeared to be the same picture he viewed the previous day.

Although, given the size  and construction of a typical hot sauce bottle*, one might question the use of "poured". Perhaps "sprinkled" would be more appropriate.

But apparently, this was enough for the "gay Tupac".

One thing that always struck me as odd was why the Osundairo brothers agreed to commit a serious crime for the wealthy Smollett for only $3500. Perhaps part of the reason is that as personal trainers, the brothers didn't appear to be very successful, possibly because they were not very good at bargaining for fees: 

[Redacted] was then asked about his training fees. [Redacted] stated he likes to get $50 an hour, in average but tries to get what he can. [Redacted] stated he sometimes barters his services. [redacted] has taken $20 an hour on the low end and $50 an hour on the high end. [Redacted] stated that training was based on need and availability of the client. Prior to the trip to [redacted] [redacted] stated he had 2 clients, including SMOLLETT. 

[Redacted] stated he currently did not have any clients but was training 11 people on a trial basis for free.

There are many comic elements to this case. But overall, it is of course a horrific injustice and a tragedy. Chicago, with its famously high murder rate, it's less well-known sharp demographic racial segregation (which dictates that the large majority of both murder perpetrators and victims are African-American, from almost exclusively African-American neighborhoods) and its tribal politics doesn't need anymore racial tension. I suppose this could have been one motivation for dropping the case.

But the flip side is almost certainly worse, with trust, such as it is, in any sort of halfway colorblind execution of local government administration or justice taking another hit. The politically correct line is that Smollett got off because he's wealthy and well-connected. That's half-true. But the other half is that he was let off by an African-American politician because he was part-African-American. One couldn't imagine a white hate hoaxer getting the same treatment.

Or at least that's how many will see it.

It should be stated that the villains of the story - including former chief of staff to Michelle Obama Tina Tchen and Cook County prosecutor Joseph Magats - come in all colors.

And it wouldn't be a Chicago grift without the involvement of that ultimate grifter Jesse Jackson. One of the reasons given by prosecutors for dropping the charges against Smollett was that he had secretly put in sixteen hours of volunteer work for Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, helping them out with camera angles for a recent broadcast, among other things.

Tom Wolfe couldn't have invented that.   

I suppose Chicago will muddle through as it always has.

It survived the Capone crime family. It will no doubt survive this family.

The Feds are apparently still pursuing a case against Smollett for faking that threat letter. Perhaps that will be his "tax evasion" moment.

But for now he is flying First Class back to New York.



* The photo of the hand holding a bottle of El Yucateco hot sauce is from a 2013 Tweet by Joe Rogan, of all people: "This hot sauce is f**king LEGIT. Mexicans make the best hot sauce."

BREAKING: Disgraced Leftist Journalist Arrested for Making Threats Against Jewish Community Centers

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Juan Thompson

No, he wasn't a Trump supporter.

Judging from his Twitter feed, he was a virulent leftist anti-Trumper who saw racism everywhere.

According to Gateway Pundit, he was actually a Bernie Sanders partisan.

He also was a self-proclaimed Muslim "revert."

A year ago, he was fired by the Intercept for fabricating a fake interview with a non-existent cousin of mass-murderer Dylan Roof.

Recently, he was fired from another writing job after his employer became aware of his earlier actions.

He then wrote a column blaming the whole thing on racism.

It now turns out he had in the meanwhile been stalking and harassing an ex-girlfriend, culminating in a bizarre scheme to frame her for threatening the Jewish community centers.

From the Washington Examiner:

St. Louis man, former journalist, arrested for making threats against Jewish centers

A St. Louis man has been arrested for making some of the bomb threats against Jewish community centers.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, Juan Thompson, 31, was arrested on one count of cyberstalking. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Thompson allegedly threatened the Anti-Defamation League's New York headquarters and eight Jewish community centers while allegedly trying to "harass and intimidate" a former girlfriend.

According to the FBI, Thompson made bomb threats in her name in an attempt to intimidate her.

The FBI complaint charged that he emailed a threat against the ADL in New York and named the woman, saying she was "behind the bomb threats against the jews. She lives in nyc and is making more bomb threats tomorrow." The next day, the ADL received a phone call claiming a bomb was in its headquarters.

In early February, an anonymous threat to a JCC in Manhattan included Thompson's name, and said he "put two bombs in the office of the Jewish center today. He wants to create Jewish newtown tomorrow."

The FBI complaint includes Thompson's alleged Twitter account, @JuanMThompson, which is also linked to a journalist of the same name who wrote for the Intercept from late 2014 until early 2016.

As recently as a week ago, the Thompson Twitter account posted "the hatred of Jews goes across all demos. Ask NYC's [Victim-1's employer]. They employ a filthy anti-Semite in [Victim-1]. These ppl are evil."

"Threats of violence targeting people and places based on religion or race – whatever the motivation – are unacceptable, un-American, and criminal," Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

Thompson was fired from the Intercept in February 2016 after the discovery of a "pattern of deception" in his reporting, and fabricated quotes in several stories.

"Thompson went to great lengths to deceive his editors, creating an email account to impersonate a source and lying about his reporting methods," editor-in-chief Betsy Reed said at the time.

In a statement on Friday, Reed said the Intercept was "horrified" to learn about the arrest.

"These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted," Reed said, adding that they have "no information about the charges against Thompson other than what is included in the criminal complaint."

There have been no arrests yet in connection with the nationwide robocall threats that have been made to JCCs across the country.

Fox & Friends: "Hey, Donald Trump, if you're watching, turn some lights on and off." (Corner room in White House blinks lights.)*

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This happened yesterday morning, I believe.

*But don't get too excited. Here's the addendum to the story:

That's okay. As long as it made Bill Kristol choke on his danish, it's all good.

Surprise! Newsweek Blames Islamophobia for Hoax about Islamophobia

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[Update: In the time it took me to write this, Lucy Westcott - @lvzwestcott - has disappeared from Twitter.]

Yesterday, I reported on the case of Yasmin Seweid - the 18-year-old Muslima who made international headlines by claiming to have been harassed by Islamophobic Trump bullies on the New York Subway, only to later admit that she made the whole thing up. She has now been charged with filing a false police report. Towards the end of my post, I wrote:

I wager that the "aspiring fashion model" will come out of this just fine. Islamophobia forced her to lie, you see. How else could this powerless young woman get Americans to face up to their own racism? I predict she'll be a spokeswoman for CAIR (Council for American-Islamic Relations) within five years. Or some such.

I was honestly surprised at how quickly my prediction came to pass.

You can read most of the above referenced Newsweek article here.

To be fair, author Lucy Westcott doesn't explicitly blame only Islamophobia for Miss Seweid's malicious and dishonest behavior. There's an implicit bit in her article about possible pressures coming from immigrant parents who might be overly demanding.

Wait, isn't that a racist stereotype?

But the general theme is clear. It's tough to be a Muslim teenager in America, mainly due to . . . America. This might drive you to file a false police report and in the process publicly lie about non-Muslim New Yorkers (many of them are liable to assault you; many of the rest, if they witness it, will not lift a finger to help).

It's now being reported that Seweid invented the story in part to account for the fact that she was late coming home. I don't disbelieve this, but it doesn't completely explain it - after all, there are a million possible lies a teenager could tell her parents that don't involve being attacked by racist Trump supporters.

Or not. If we're going to absolve Seweid from all or at least most of her moral responsibility, I propose this: The ideology of Islam with its ever-present "us vs. them" subtext and its endorsement of "Taqiyya" or lying in the cause of Islam, coupled with the contemporary liberal obsession with hate speech/hate crimes/racism/Islamophobia, etc. presented the teenager with only one real alternative - or so it appeared in her own mind:

Fake a hate crime.

I'm all for trying to help liberate Miss Seweid from the pressures of Islam and liberalism. Can we at least put some kind of restraining order on, say, any further exposure to the Koran, or at a minimum, American fake-news publications like Newsweek?

You know, keep her away from the bad influences.

BREAKING: New York Muslima Who Claimed Islamophobic Assault by Trump Bullies, Admits She Lied - Now She's Under Arrest

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Pamela Geller correctly called it a few days ago: "Color me skeptical, but the whole thing stinks, like Fulton’s fish market."

Baruch College student, Yasmin Seweid, 18, claimed to have been the victim of an anti-Muslim hate-crime on the New York subway at the hands of three men yelling Trump slogans. But there was no surveillance footage of phone footage of the alleged perpetrators, no other witnesses and her story sounded suspicious and thin to the police.

Nevertheless, she became an instant international celebrity because her fake story fit the "Islamophobia" narrative. Headlines around the world touted her "story" (see end of post). If you thought Islamophobia in the United States was bad before (went the subtext), look how much worse it is now that Trump won the election. 

Then she mysteriously went missing for two days. Skeptics started to sense that she might be a Muslim Tawana Brawley. Anti-Islamophobes wondered whether she hadn't been kidnapped by white supremacists.

Today she admitted that she made the whole thing up, and the police are charging her with filing a false police report.

I wager that the "aspiring fashion model" will come out of this just fine. Islamophobia forced her to lie, you see. How else could this powerless young woman get Americans to face up to their own racism? I predict she'll be a spokeswoman for CAIR  (Council for American-Islamic Relations) within five years. Or some such.

In a just world, she would be sent down to Guantanamo for ten.

From the New York Daily News:

She made it all up — and now she’s under arrest. 

The Muslim college student who claimed she was harassed on the subway by three men who shouted “Donald Trump,” called her a terrorist and tried to rip her hijab off her head has admitted to detectives that she concocted the entire story, the Daily News has learned. 

Yasmin Seweid, 18, has been charged with filing a false report, a police source said. 

Seweid had numerous opportunities to admit the incident never happened but again and again stood by her story, the source said. 

Drunk men screaming 'Trump' attack Muslim straphanger, cops say 

On Wednesday, after again being confronted with questions from detectives increasingly suspicious of her story she recanted and said she made it all up, citing family problems. 

The police source said criminally charging her was appropriate. 

“This isn’t something we normally like to do but she had numerous opportunities to admit nothing happened and she kept sticking by her story,” the source said. 

“We dedicated a lot of resources to this — and don’t get me wrong, this is what we do — but we had guys going back and forth, looking for video and witnesses. And we couldn’t find anything. 

L.I. Muslim student who was harassed at MTA station is missing 

“Nothing happened — and there was no victim.” 

It wasn’t immediately clear what Seweid hoped to gain by lying to police. 

The Baruch College student claimed that on her way home to Long Island the night of Dec. 1 she encountered three drunken men on an uptown No. 6 train.
She said straphangers stood by and did nothing while the trio mocked her and tried to tear the religious garb from her head. 

Cops find missing Muslim student harassed by Trump supporters 

“It made me really sad after when I thought about it,” she said. “People were looking at me and looking at what was happening and no one said a thing. They just looked away.” 

She provided police a description of the suspects, one of whom police believed they saw on video following her when she got off the subway at Grand Central Station to look for police. At the same time, there were inconsistencies in her story. 

For awhile, police believed those to be nothing more than typical of someone traumatized, but detectives could not find witnesses or any significant video.
Then, last week, she left home and was reported missing on Thursday — only to turn up safe and sound Friday. 

Muslim student allegedly harassed by Trump supporters safely home 

That, sources said, increased the suspicions surrounding her tale. 

Trumpsters Gone Wild! German Islamophobes BUILD WALL Across Doorway of Mosque. (Or So It Is Claimed. Muslims "Dismantle" Wall, Brick by Brick, While Waiting for Police to Arrive. Luckily They Took a Photograph.)

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It wouldn't have stopped Mexicans

I'll save my comments for the bottom of the post. From RT News:

German police probe vandalism & hatred after door to mosque gets bricked up 

Unknown vandals have bricked up a door leading to a mosque in a small town in northeastern Germany, also putting up stickers bearing racist messages on the makeshift wall. 

Police in the small town of Parchim in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have launched an investigation after a door to a local mosque, currently under construction, was found blocked with a one meter high brick wall last week, according to a police report. 

Several flyers bearing anti-Islamic messages had been posed on the wall. 

Among them were “you call yourself believers, we call you invaders,” and “the mosques are our barracks, the minarets our bayonets, the believers our soldiers,” which is allegedly a quote from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

A criminal probe has been launched on two counts, including vandalism and the incitement of hatred, German broadcaster NDR reported. 

By the time the police arrived at the scene, the wall reportedly had already been dismantled. However, activists from a local pro-refugee center were quick enough to capture and post a photo of what had been done to the mosque entrance on Facebook. Investigators hope the photo will provide evidence that could lead them to the perpetrators. 

A Facebook post by Network for Refugees in Parchim (Netzwerk für Flüchtlinge in Parchim) containing the photo of the makeshift wall said that the incident was the second time the mosque had been targeted in a racist hate crime. 

In response, Parchim activists have left a note, saying: “Hello, my dear fellows! Walls exist to be knocked down. Never give up, stay strong and be happy! Never lose your spirit! I’m happy that there are nice people like you. You are great! Thanks a lot!” 

The writing on the wall was also accompanied with a couple of heart images.

So, here are some quick points and questions:

1. It's odd to describe an actual quote from the Turkish President as "anti-Islamic." By the way, it's not an "alleged" quote but has been well-documented.
2. The quote itself is a favorite of Islamists, which is why Erdogan publicly recited it (in a poem) in the first place, and presumably would have been well-known to Muslims in the area. I suspect it would not have been as well-known to local non-Muslims, although admittedly it has been occasionally featured in anti-Erdogan and anti-Islam memes.
3. Many of the Muslims in the area are Turkish Kurds who are no friends of Erdogan.
4. The above article lists the mosque as being "under construction." Another article says that it is "undergoing renovation." In any case, one assumes that the area is in an unfinished or transitional state with bricks lying around, etc. - making it easier for someone so inclined to erect a mini-wall.
5. How long does it take to build a three-foot high brick wall, complete with mortar (admittedly somewhat crudely splattered)?
6. I assume the building had another door.
7. Though it is unclear from the second photograph, I assume the "reply" note was placed next to the door.
8. But here's by far the most obvious curiosity: If some anti-Islamic vandal went to the trouble, not just to, say, hang a piece or bacon on the doorknob or write a rude slur on the door, but to actually construct a brick wall (complete with pre-made anti-immigrant messages stuck on) and you wanted to get them in trouble for instigating a hate-crime, does it really make sense that you would quickly dismantle the evidence - and in addition go to the trouble of creating an inspirational note with hearts, etc., celebrating that you had dismantled the evidence - before the police arrived?
9. Luckily, someone had the presence of mind to take a photograph.
10. The "walls exist to be knocked down" quote was just so . . . perfect.

Enough.

While the anti-immigrant "backlash" in Germany is certainly real, and while anti-Islam "hate-crimes" do of course exist - though at a level far-below what one would expect, given the circumstances - this current incident has all the earmarks of a hoax.  

Anatomy of a Jesuit Myth

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They weren't on The Pill

I was going to subtitle this "The (Last?) Word on that Bogus Nuns Taking Contraceptives in the Belgian Congo Claim." But I hope it's not the last word. That is, I would be interested in seeing any additional information anyone else might have on this. Whatever my feelings on the Pope or contraception (and you know what they are), I actually think this is an interesting sort of detective story.

Yesterday, Fr. Z wrote a good post on the matter. I was highly critical of part of what he said in a previous post. But in that same post he also correctly suggested that the story of the nuns was almost certainly an "urban myth." And he then followed it up with some good research. I want to put on the record what I have found in my own digging, which both corroborates his research and I think adds to it.

As far as I know, much of the information below has never appeared on a blog. Certainly it has never appeared together in one place.

As an aside, Fr. Z and I will not be collaborating on any scholarly research in the foreseeable future. He has blocked my known IP addresses (my home computer and my phone) from accessing his website.

I guess that's what I get for equating Fr. Z with a water-skiing Fonzie.

So, here's what I have. I hope you find it interesting. If not, thanks for the click and I'll see you on my next shorter post:

*****************

A few days ago Pope Francis and then his spokesman Federico Lombardi repeated the story of nuns in the Belgian Congo in the early 1960's taking contraceptives because they were at risk of rape.

The story has been told in various forms for the last twenty years. Sometimes it has the Catholic authorities looking the other way. In others, it has them issuing a special dispensation to the nuns. Sometimes the authority or authorities is a local bishop or bishops. Other times it is "the Vatican" or the Pope himself--Paul VI, when he is mentioned.

Francis put it this way:

Paul VI, a great man, in a difficult situation in Africa, permitted nuns to use contraceptives in cases of rape...Avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. In certain cases, as in this one, or in the one I mentioned of blessed Paul VI, it was clear.

The next day, Lombardi doubled down on the Pope's altitudinal remarks, confirming and reiterating the historical claim.

One recent scholarly source for the claim is Aline H. Kalbian in her Sex, Violence, and Justice: Contraception and the Catholic Church (2014):

This issue of preemptive contraception was debated vigorously by Catholic moralists in the early 1960's. The case that then received much attention in the pages of Catholic journals was that of the Catholic nuns in the Belgian Congo. Ambrogio Valsecchi describes the "test" case in general terms: "It is the case of a woman, more precisely of a nun, who, fearing she may be raped makes use of pro gestational drugs to induce sterility and prevent eventual conception." Bayer [Edward J. Bayer, Rape Within Marriage: A Moral Analysis Delayed, 2003] also recounts the case and provides a little more detail about "the plight of religious Sisters and other woman caught up in the uprisings in the Belgian Congo." He writes: "These women were given anovulant drugs by doctors on the missions in order to ward off pregnancy which might otherwise result from the rape which was a constant threat in that chaotic episode." Bayer also described the Magisterium's lack of response on this issue. He claims that "the Magisterium, however, made no effort to intervene...and...even quietly reviewed the case and tacitly accepted the actions of the mission doctors as being in harmony with the moral doctrine of the Church."

Interestingly, part of this passage was quoted in a paper written only a few weeks ago--just days before the Pope's remarks--by a group of dissident pro-contraception "Catholic" scholars, who end their paper by pronouncing: "The consensus of contemporary Catholic scholarship is that Christian couples may responsibly use contraceptives." Notably, they misquote Kalbian, ascribing Bayer's 2003 words as her own.

Remember Professor Kalbian, as she'll have more to say at the end of this post.

There are many other contemporary references to the story. But none of them cite any original sources--for example, newspaper stories or eyewitness accounts. Indeed, all the references seem circular. I'm with Fr. Z. in tracing the first such reference to a 1993 paper in Civiltà Cattolica by the Jesuit Giacomo Perico, discussing the ethics of contraception against the background of alleged mass rape in the then current Bosnia war.

Perico was apparently one of the minority "conservatives" (one contemporary source used the term) who helped Pope Paul VI write his anti-contraception Humanae Vitae in 1968. But he would soon emerge as a quasi-dissident, attempting to push "exceptions" to the traditional teaching, which in at least one case were disavowed by the Vatican.

Toledo Blade, 5 March, 1993

Perico's paper was a minor cause-celebre and the claim about the Belgian Congo nuns was picked up by a number of Catholic and non-Catholic news sources. But shortly after the paper was published, the Vatican denied the claim:

Vatican Furor Over Bosnian Rapes 

It Denies Allowing Nuns In Danger Zones To Use The Pill 

March 05, 1993 | By New York Times News Service. 

Catholic publications in Rome have reported that several nuns became pregnant after being raped in the former Yugoslavia. The Vatican this week denied that it had permitted abortions for them. But newspapers then reported that nuns working in parts of Latin America and Africa in the 1960s and '70s used contraceptive pills because they feared rape and pregnancy. 

The controversy took yet another turn Wednesday when an unidentified Catholic theologian was quoted as saying that the use of contraceptives-absolutely forbidden by Roman Catholic doctrine-was permissible by nuns "in defense against an illegitimate act of aggression."

The unidentified theologian, first quoted by a news agency regarded as close to the Vatican, was said to have differentiated between such use of contraception and the prevention of the transmission of life by a couple. 

The remarks were widely interpreted in Italian newspapers Thursday as an authorization of contraception for nuns. One newspaper published a front-page headline that read, "The Pope Says Yes to the Pill for Nuns in Bosnia." 

Seeking to quell the controversy, the Vatican's deputy spokesman, Monsignor Piero Pennacchini, said Thursday that there were "no Vatican documents in this regard" authorizing the use of the contraceptive pill for nuns in dangerous areas to avoid pregnancy. 

[It's unclear whether  the "unidentified theologian" is Perico or someone in addition to Perico.]

It would be interesting to quiz Pope Francis or Lombardi as to how their current statements contradict those of a Vatican spokesman from only twenty-three years before. Were they aware of the contradiction? How would they explain it? Is there new evidence on this that they would like to share? Or, given the previous Vatican denial, would they care to revise their current claims?

PR veterans or Vatican conspiracy theorists might argue that the assertion that "there were no Vatican documents in this regard" is not a categorical denial that it never happened. But let's leave this part of the story here for the time being.

To the apparent fact that there were no sources prior to 1993 that reported the story of the Belgian Congo nuns, we can add that there were numerous books and papers published from 1960 to 1993 that dealt in exhaustion with the Catholic position on contraception that would have had an interest in reporting the story if it were true, either because they were advancing dissident pro-contraception arguments or simply to be comprehensive. John T. Noonan's Contraception (1965), at 581 pages, "the first thorough, scholarly, objective analysis of Catholic doctrine on birth control," is one example. I'm looking right now at another--Catholic Thought on Contraception Through the Centuries by Joseph Sommer (1970). I'm not sure if Sommer was a dissident, but his book is full of interesting cases and examples. If he had any information on contraception practiced among nuns in the Belgian Congo, I assume he would have included it. 

Is the fact that there are no original sources or sources previous to 1993 absolute proof that the story never happened? Of course not, since it is impossible to prove a negative. But it's highly suggestive that it's false.

So, did Perico just make it up? I don't think so. But what is almost certain is that he knowingly or unknowingly turned what had then been a hypothetical moral thought experiment into a supposed fact.

Montreal Gazette, 1 February, 1964

We can trace the thought experiment back to a 1961 paper by three "Jesuit theologians." In the heady days of the 1960's this paper would be cited again and again by Catholic dissidents wishing to push the limits on contraception until Paul VI would quash their efforts with Humanae Vitae. It will be useful to quote in full a 1964 AP story on the paper and subsequent controversy:

A leading Roman Catholic moral theologian here says there may be a relaxation of the Church's strict ban on contraception because of the rape of nuns in the Belgian Congo four years ago. 

Very Rev. E.F. Sheridan, rector of suburban Willowsdale's Regis College, foresees probable justification for the use of oral contraceptives by persons threatened with rape but doubts whether abortion or pills for married women will ever been condoned. 

He was commenting on an article by a United Church minister in a recent issue of the United Church Observer. 

Dr. Ernest Marshall Howse of Toronto suggested in The Observer article that three jesuit theologians, studying the violation of the nuns, recognized that artificial contraception is morally permissible under certain circumstances. He said the group presented a considered judgment--on which the Vatican has so far made no comment--that nuns in danger of rape may properly use contraceptive pills and also can "eliminate all traces and consequences" of all aggression. 

The findings of the study were published in the Roman Catholic Theological review Studi Cattolici of November-December, 1961. 

According to Msgr. Pietro Palazzini, a cleric highly regarded for his moral theology studies, "a woman can resist sexual aggression with all her forces." 

"She can slightly mutilate her face in order to make herself unattractive; she can also eliminate all traces and consequence of the aggression including the fecundant element abusively laid in her womb." 

Msgr. Lambuschini, another member of the study team, said: "We conclude that the use of pills which suspend temporarily a woman's fertility, can be considered morally legitimate." 

Dr. Howse asked; "How long before what is moral in their (the nuns?) situation becomes moral in other situations for other women who, for legitimate reasons, do not want children?" 

Father Sheridan said in an interview: "When three theologians of such high reputation as these men say this, any Catholic can, in safe conscience, follow the advice in the circumstances exactly implied, until contradicted by the Holy See." 

In other words, it could be understood that nuns can safely use contraceptives to prevent the possible outcome of rape. Father Sheridan added that he understood the Jesuits' findings to justify contraception for violated women other than nuns. 

"But I don't think there is any possibility of defending use of contraceptives of the oral type by married couples," he said.  

He added: "When the theologians speak of preventing any consequence of rape I am quite certain that they would never justify abortion but refer to attempts to expel the spermatozoa before conception. These attempts are licit under the circumstances described, as long as there is no danger of abortion.

There are a few important things to note here. First of all, the story of the Belgian nuns is treated not as fact but as a philosophical jumping off point for a particular argument--that contraception would be licit under certain circumstances. As it was creepily put, the Jesuit theologians were merely "studying the violation of the nuns."

Its's also interesting to see the manner in which in 1964 the envelope on changing the traditional Catholic teachings on contraception was aggressively being pushed: "When three theologians of such high reputation as these men say this, any Catholic can, in safe conscience, follow the advice in the circumstances exactly implied, until contradicted by the Holy See." This sort of thing would eventually lead to Humanae Vitae.

Finally, observe the strong denial that such reasoning could ever lead to married couples taking contraceptives. That was just proven false by the current Pope.

Remember when I said above that the circular references to the story being fact only go back to 1993? That was true enough, but there is actually a source from much earlier that made a different and more spectacular claim about the Belgian Congo nuns. In 1967, the German bi-weekly magazine Deutsches Panorama alleged that the nuns had actually been given secret abortions by the Vatican, or at least so it was reported in a NZPA (New Zealand) dispatch of the story as recalled a few years later:

European nuns who became pregnant after being raped by Congolese soldiers in July, 1960, were allowed by their Church superiors to undergo abortions, the bi-weekly magazine, "Deutsches Panorama", reported yesterday. 

The Catholic Church and the parties and government closely associated with it, the magazine commented, 'are likely from now on to have more difficulty opposing all interruptions of pregnancy on the grounds that it would be murder.' 

Most of the raped nuns who became pregnant, 'Deutsches Panorama' said, were Vincential Sisters of Charity working in the Congo as nurses and teachers. After their ordeal they returned to Belgium. 

Until recently, the magazine said, the public had assumed the nuns who became pregnant had been released from their vows and had delivered babies. 

'What really happened,' the magazine said, 'remained a closely guarded secret for many years. A leading Belgian gynaecologist, Dr Jean Snocck, a Brussels university professor, only now has revealed it — not for reasons of sensationalism but in order.as he put it, to call attention to a crying injustice, and not publicly, but before only a small circle of leading Belgian physicians and scientists.' 

The magazine continued: 'Soon after the developments in the Congo, Professor Jean Snoeck explained, certain high-placed persons made it known to certain leading specialists in the field of gynaecology that the otherwise forbidden operations could be undertaken in certain special cases, with the specific approval if not at the suggestion of the highest Catholic authorities. 

The certain special cases, Professor Snoeck explained, were the nuns who became pregnant because of rape. He added that it was incomprehensible to him why that which is forbidden to a 16 year old student who is raped by a white-skinned drunk should be permitted in these special cases. 

'However, Professor Snoeck and his colleagues — also Catholics of Belgium and the whole world — see this crying injustice simultaneously as a hope, namely, as a sign of a basic change in the Church's view.'

The story may not have been known by Perico or any of the other later players. Of course, even if it had been known, its sensationalist nature and almost certain falsity would have prevented its use. Also, of course, that the allegation involved abortion and not contraception would not have bolstered anyone's case.

What the forgotten article does show is that, probably as early as 1967, even before Humanae Vitae, the thought experiment of the three Jesuits had taken on a life of its own among those with an ideological axe to grind who wanted to believe.

Paul VI in Uganda

Let's return to Professor Kalbian. Though she added fuel to the rumor fire with her recent book, she seems now to have somewhat recanted:

Aline Kalbian, a professor of religion at Florida State University and author of Sex, Violence & Justice: Contraception and the Catholic Church also looked into the Belgian nun story and came up empty. 

“I didn’t find any evidence of Paul VI saying anything about Congo and nuns,” Kalbian said. “And John XXIII didn’t say anything either.” 

Kalbian also pointed out that the Pill had just been approved for public use in the US in 1960, and that it wasn’t widely available in much of the world during the Congo crisis. She said the debate was likely a typical hypothetical premise that theologians bat around as part of their work. 

“This was a bunch of theologians debating the possibility [of providing nuns with contraception],” she said. “And all of it was happening under John XVIII, so it’s weird [Francis] invoked Pope Paul VI.”

In fairness, we'll quote the last part of her statement:

“It’s possible the pope has accessed Vatican archives and knows something about Paul VI and the Belgian Congo that we don’t,” Kalbian said.

Yes, possible. Pope Francis just made a very controversial claim about his predecessor, a claim that would be slanderous if false. Where's the evidence?

Kalbian's historical analysis brings us to the final piece of the puzzle. A number of European nuns were raped in the Belgian Congo in 1960 during the violent turbulence of de-colonialization, though leftists have long dismissed this as anti-African propaganda. It is these rapes that were "studied" by the Jesuits. There was another eruption of violence during the so-called "Simba Rebellion" of 1964 that also tragically included attacks against Catholic nuns. If the story as reported by, say, Francis is true, and the period in question was during the pontificate of Paul VI, who became Pope in June of 1963, then the women religious would have had to have "gone on The Pill" at about this time.

That's at least logically possible, of course. But consider also that The Pill was either unavailable or illegal in most Western countries during this period. It didn't become available in Belgium until 1965, and contraceptive literature was essentially illegal in that country until the end of the decade. Though, women used it in growing numbers in the countries where it could be obtained, there was still much controversy about its safety and side-effects, among other things.

Was The Pill available at all in the Belgian Congo is, say 1964-65, let alone obtainable by Catholic nuns? Did their bishops smuggle it in?

It's time to stand back and consider just how absurd and even obscene this whole bogus story is:

"Sisters, we're about to send you into/back into a war zone. There's a very good chance that you'll be attacked by rebels. These rebels are quite bloodthirsty and violent. It's very possible/probable that you'll be raped. If on the off-chance you're raped and not killed, then a really bad thing might happen--you might become with child. We can't really provide extra guards or anything to prevent any of this. But what we can do is give you some medicine which we've obtained on the black market. Don't worry, you might think it's morally wrong, but a 1961 academic paper contradicts that. Also, whether or not there might be any side-effects or other health dangers, consider how awful it would be, not to be raped per se, but to have a baby as a result of that. Here, Sisters, have some contraceptives."

The crisis in the Church continues.