What is most disturbing about this report is not the fact of abuse, nor the utter failure of Guiliani to empathize with the victims of abuse, but the total failure on his part and on his friend's part to recognize the importance of a distance between the Church and society. This priest is not apart from society, a shepard of souls, but a player in the civil society he is supposed to be providing some judgment and perspective upon. he isn't an activist, protesting the immrialities of power, but a corrupt power player. The Catholic Church is authoritarian in character, which is simply its history. Modernity meant, as Max Weber discussed at length in his major work Economy and Society, that theocratic authority was to be divorced from political authority. In the US, that difference was well in the minds of the enlightened founders, many of whom were merely deist, and almost all of whom were suspicious of the Catholic Church. This article isn't so much about loyalty as it is about faith and its viscissitudes, the terrible blindness of blind faith, and the corruption of the souls of those who seek to judge all of us. It frightens me that this man is a serious candidate for president.

If Guiliani seeks the presidency and succeeds, perhaps he can make Alan Placa Attorney General since Placa has a law degree. In that position, Placa could make Mark Foley, who chaired the House caucus on missing and exploited children, look like an a good guy. If you will recall Foley was the House Republican who sent suggestive emails to house pages.

Placa, in that position, could certainly sweep a lot of stuff under the rug. Maybe Guiliani understands that, if you have someone by the balls, it is even easier to extract loyalty.

It sickens me to see the way the Catholic Church has turned a blind eye to all of the abuse and subsequent coverup by it's priests, bishops, etc.

Although baptised Catholic, I will not set foot in a Catholic Church again, and have explained to my children that the Church does not treat children well, and that that is why I am against it.

Wrong combination for leading a democracy!!!

The Catholic Church has been blatant in their cover up of priestly child abuse. There are currently six priest taking refuge in the Vatican to avoid extradition to the U.S. on charges of child molestation.

Instead of hearing about candidates covering for these collared pedophiles it would be nice to see a candidate promise to propose legislation to revoke the tax-exempt status of any religious institution that aids and abets these monsters. Furthermore they should promise to withdraw the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican (yes, we have one) until they become more forthright and transparent on the prosecution of these child abusers.

So...Rudy Giuliani is loyal to his pals to the detriment of the law, ethics and morality? What else is new?

Giuliani is a "politician"...having all the worst attributes of that label: he wants to win at all costs, he cares little for the legalities of a situation and his ethics/morals come second..or a distant third...to simply doing the right thing.

As for his friendship with Alan Placa...along with his "cafeteria Catholic" religious persona...it reinforces the reality that Giuliani is a wheeler-dealer who plays fast and loose with the truth. We already have one of those as President.

Giuliani is simply George W. Bush with a lisp.

a durham, nc, grand jury indicted three innocent young men for rape, duke university subsequently suspended them-- and they were WRONG. innocent until proven guilty-- some people really are.

Bush and Guiliani share the loyalty uber alles trait, among others, and I think history tells us it is an identifying characteristic of some of the worst dictators the world has endured. Guiliani's Roman Catholicism is his cultural and ethnic history and means little to him as a guiding moral force. Evidence his three wives.

But standing by an old friend in trouble is admirable, and while I have precious little good to say about Emperor Rudy, I do respect that about him up to a point. Both he and the priest seem to have situational morals, as does Romney, with the end justifying the means their primary guiding principle.

Guiliani as president would merely administer the coup de gras to our country. We are already bleeding from our arteries, and if we survive Bush, assuming we do, we will be ripe for a finishing blow. Guiliani could be just the man for the job.

the politics of personal destruction at their finest.

Isn't there anything substantial you can say about or of Giuliani ?

He employs an old friend as consultant ? Who has never been even charged, not to mention convicted, of any crime ? Who is possibly anonymously mentioned in an obscure report of an institution best known for beeing able to indict ham sandwiches ?

And even assumed (a remote, slim chance) that those more than 20 years old unsubstantiated allegations are true - do you really advocate a lifelong ban on any work for anyone ever accused of something like this ?

I'm no fan of Giuliani, but this smear piece of an article, and by extension its authors, disgsts me.

I agree with Beuchel's letter. As a witness to the community's behavior in what should not be known as the "Duke rape case" but as the "Duke attempt to frame innocent young men" case, I became shockingly aware that most of us leap to personal conclusions when others are accused of actions we abhore. I actually heard colleagues say things like "I KNOW they must have done SOMETHING," and the District Attorney himself in that case seems to have allowed his personal feelings of resentment against a "privileged group" to obscure his professional judgement. I am disappointed that Salon.com published this story. It is mostly innuendo, even though the writers, toward the very end of the article, produce two counter-witnesses to refute the one direct accusation that is quoted. It is just possible that "Priest F" (who the writers do not prove was Placa) was working with full integrity to provide a just process for accused clergy, rather than yielding to mass hysteria. It is understandable that some aggrieved parents would see this as obstructive behavior, but that is opinion, not fact. I do not defend the actions of ANY proven child-molesters, but I do defend the right of anyone ACCUSED of ANY crime to be considered innocent until proven guilty. I am not a Guiliani fan, but I have to respect him for standing by the Constitution and the rights it guarantees all of us, including Mr. Placa. Not many politicians would do that these days!