Vatican On The Run
Over the last few weeks, more and more of the mainstream media have been talking about the “crisis in the Vatican” or “Pope-gate.” More and more of the general public including Catholics are becoming outraged. The systematic cover-up and protection of child rapists and sexual assault on children is not easy to defend against. But they are trying.
Some Pope defenders have been quick to point out there roughly 100,000 reported cases of sexual assault and child rape over 60 years really isn’t that high when you think about it. There are over one billion Catholics in the world after all. “Couches and guidance councilors molest children too!” This is their brilliant defense. “The world is picking on the Catholics.”
I think that the Vatican has forgotten one really important fact with this defense. There are roughly 100,000 reported cases in which Catholic Priests have raped and/or sexually assaulted children and the Vatican and probably the Pope systematically tried to cover it up and protect those accused from prosecution. If a couch or a guidance councilor molests a child, they should be arrested. If the school attempts to systematically cover it up allowing the individual to continue to molest children, then those involved in the cover up ought to be arrested too.
Another great defense is that the Pope is the head of state and therefore above the law. Some moral authority he is. As soon as accusations are made and the court wants to know what the Pope knows and when the Pope knew it, he cries diplomatic immunity.
Do you know who else had diplomatic immunity? Saddam Hussein was also the head of a state and when Bush thought that he may have broken the law by building weapons, we went in there are arrested him. Right or wrong, we got him and the same could happen with the Pope if enough of the world thinks he really is personally involved.
The more that the Vatican and its defenders try to protect the Pope with these lame-ass defenses, the more people are going to get pissed off at the situation. This would increase the likelihood of a military operation to bring the Pope to justice. Personally, I don’t think that is a good way to go for the Pope. I think it would be better for him to turn himself in and defend himself and the Vatican in an international court of law.
The Pope would have the best lawyers money and blind faith can provide. They would be even better than OJ’s lawyers. If he and the Vatican are found not guilty in an international court of law, then this scandal is over and the Catholic Church can go on hustling money at the collection plate. In fact, they can get even more money from their one billion followers by whining about this whole ordeal and how they were found innocent after all and Satan must have been behind the whole plot or something. I’m sure they’ll have a good angle to raise money some how.
But if they are found guilty, that would be a very destructive blow to the Catholic Church; one which the Church might not be able to recover from. The Catholic Church, the Vatican, and the Pope are all on the run and they know it. The more they run the more guilty they look in the eyes of the general public.
Filed under: Catholics, Current Events, Religion
