Sinéad O’Connor sacrificed her career and risked herself, and was treated abysmally by the world because she stood up for kids raped by the catholic church, enabled by pope after pope after pope, with parishioners too greedy for their promised ladder to heaven to care.
Even parents of the raped kids were silent, they took money and signed gags (NDAs) instead.
I’ll never forget. It was 1992; I was enduring endless flashbacks to rapes when I was a kid. Sinéad gave me safety and stamina to endure them when all I wanted to do was die.
The entire song:
Zeitgeist@AshVbl:
Excellent cover of Marley’s “War (No More Trouble)”
Which in itself was taken from a speech made by Hailie Selasse at the UN
Dr Robert Bohan@RobertBohan:
By the time Sinéad O’Connor sang this (1992) some 70,000 children had been sexually abused by Catholic priests & brothers in Ireland. 
Think of the many tens of thousands, likely hundreds of thousands, more, raped elsewhere in the world by the catholic church. The state, media, bishops, cardinals & pope had covered it up. She was scorned.
It would be a year before homosexuality was decriminalised in the Irish theocracy, 4 years before divorce was legalised & 20 years before abortion was legalised. It would be 6y before the last monstrous Mother & Baby Home was closed.
… That shocked silence of the NYC audience & the vitriol of the Irish & US media afterwards still stay with me. Two thousand years ago she would have been thought a prophet
Sally Alcot@sally_alcot:
She was right. All along, she was right. She was vilified for being right. The abuse was happening. She knew who was hiding the abusers. She was right. All along.
rob feral@feraluniverse:
She stood up and was vilified for it. How many would have been spared if people listened
Sandi Bachom @sandibachom:
So damned courageous.
Kris Kristofferson – Sister Sínead by rebelvoiceblog, December 7, 2017
This is a delight, as Kris Kristofferson sings a song he wrote for Sínead O’Connor after her harsh treatment at the hands of a Madison Square Garden audience in 1992, during a 30th birthday celebration for Bob Dylan.
Kristofferson introduced the Irish firebrand and was heard to whisper to her, as the booing began, ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down’.
Two weeks before, O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope on US TV in protest at the conduct of the Catholic Church. She was right then, and hindsight has not changed that.
MUST WATCH 2:21 min: Kris Kristofferson – Sister Sinead (2009) posted to YouTube by biggestkkfan, Apr 15, 2015
Youtube blocked my original upload of this great song due to scenes I had used from the Bob Dylan Tribute. So this is shorter, because I left out Kris’s intro speech, which was so different from the behaviour of the audience to Sinead’s performance. When Kris approached to her, he whispered “Don’t let th bastards get you down”, which actually is a song he wrote, to encourage or to comfort her. Willie was as pissed off as Kris while he announced the following artist. That incident inspired Kris to write this song. He finally put it on his Closer to the bone album (2009)
…
And humans responded all over the world,
condemning that bald-headed brave little girl.
…
DogsBestFriend@HurleyNDelilah1:
10 Years before Boston Globe Spotlight series brought the Boston Archdiocese atrocities to light in their sexual abuse scandal…
Steven Vellou@StevenVellou:
Which of these two scenarios do you think enraged Americans:
a) the rape & murder of thousands of children by Catholic Clergy & Nuns, or
b) #SineadOConnor (R.I.P.) ripping up a photo of @Pontifex
on #SaturdayNightLive?
If you guessed ‘a’ you were dead wrong!
@UNAMERICANHOUSE
Julie S. Lalonde@JulieSLalonde:
It’s impossible for younger generations to understand how brave Sinead was for calling out the Catholic church in the 90s.
Sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church is now literally a punch line. But it was sacrilege when she called it out.
Immeasurably brave.
Laurel Morrissey@laurelmjohnston:
100%. She was so brave. When this happened my aunt, a nun, clapped and cried for joy. It was like punching open a window to a room starved of oxygen. A collective deep breath for generations of survivors. I hope she knew she was treasured.
The Blue and White@1964Leafs:
“Brave” is the precise word to describe her efforts.
She lead a complicated, tortured life, it seems. But, yes, she was brave for taking on the big and powerful who always prey on the weak.
Thank you!
Michelle Mann @MichelleLydiaM:
So ahead of her time
Holly@hgillismac:
Incredibly so for a 25 year old to speak truth to power.
Ne’erdoWell@CommonerDR:
And she was pretty much blacklisted for her action.
Harriet Fancott@FancottH:
And it screwed her career. Just iconic.
houseofmilo @Mairin068:
So courageous. And she paid an enormous price for it.
Coraltime@Muir2023:
It affected her career. I remember how different it was then. You didn’t knock the Pope or priests, at least not on stage and TV. It’s why she did it. She risked it all to bring attention to the sexual predators in the church. Now we’re discovering 1 or 2 a week just in the US
Robb Ostwald@Robbostwald:
So proud when she performed on SNL, i got to watch! 1990’s isn’t that long ago yet the church still is silent on so much abuse
Robert Edmunds@HuukedOnFonix:
After ripping up the picture on SNL, her career was irreparably damaged. She was basically blackballed for years. Such a great talent shunned for exposing the truth.
Hatter Matters@TheMadDuchess:
I keep thinking about how the world owed her a huge apology. Yet, she never got it.
BarbWire@BarbIrgens:
Anybody that suffered sexual abuse by someone “trusted” knew. We all knew she was right. Fly high beautiful girl
Lovey Dovey Cake Lady @DoveyLoveyCake:
She knew then what we all know now about “men of God” and it still continues.
Amir Attaran (@email hidden; JavaScript is required)@profamirattaran:
Let’s be clear: Sinead O’Connor calling the Pope “evil” and the “enemy” was, regrettably, accurate. Multiple inquiries since show Popes covering up sex crimes, including child rape. Heart of a lion, she had.
Nancy@Nancy6355225576:
Absolutely. She was one of the very few who publicly stood up for the kids, not the Catholic Church. Many defended the church abusers and rapists, sacrificing the welfare of children. Beautiful soul, Rest In Peace.
Angie C. Platten@angiecplatten:
She was right and she was brave. We lost a beautiful soul.
Mary Carroll@MCMD2628:
Awww she was so beautiful and brave and the sad thing is,we knew she was suffering but we thought she’d be OK…
