Scribblings

Arrest the Pope

Not the Pope

It is now quite clear that Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope, has known all about at least some of the historical cases of child abuse currently convulsing the Roman Catholic church. It is equally clear that while head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he was involved in hiding a number of the cases from the prying eyes of others, even going so far as issuing an edict telling Bishops that they should deal with any cases internally rather than report them to the civil authorities. Threats were even made to some of the victims about possible adverse consequences if they revealed their abuse at the hands of their priests to the press and other organs. All the Pope’s protestations mean diddly squat. There is ample evidence of his deep involvement in this issue while he was a Cardinal.

For some reason or other the civil authorities treat the leaders of large religious organisations as being exempt from the normal laws which most of us live by. If the Pope were anything other than what he is he would surely by now have been arrested as a possible accessory after the fact of the abuse. Arrest the Pope now: if he wants to resign first then so much the better.

Posted 29 March 2010, 20:13
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