I cannot disagree with most of the comments. The Church’s claim that Bishops act independently of the Vatican is patently false. Yet I will not be surprised if the U.S. Courts find in favor of the Church.

A majority of the Supreme Court Justices are Catholic. They are happy to declare Corporations to be persons with all the rights and protections of individuals. And, what is the Catholic Church but one of the largest and oldest corporations?

The Justices have little antipathy when it comes to applying the dictates of the Vatican concerning sexual preferences and practices. Why would anyone assume that they will disagree with the Vatican in this case?

“...the Vatican is prepared to argue that bishops are not employees of the church…”
——
Right. Yet it would not surprise me one bit if the other side of the Vatican’s face declared it retains the right to FIRE (read excommunicate) any bishop who fails to toe the Vatican’s party line. Convenient, self-serving liars…

I actually wrote about this topic in a column published on the 15th.  You are more than welcome to check it out.  What has been happening is an outrage, and people need to continue expressing this publically until the tide turns against the perpetrators and those who cover up their crimes for the sake of the Church’s own money and power.

Robert Healy

http://www.hpe.com/view/full_story/7434691/article-ROBERT-HEALY—The-Vatican-should-have-no-immunity-from-justice?instance=most_recommended

Oy Vey es mir!

wow the pope in jail next to Chaney, next thing you know accountability will fall from the heavens and then Atheists will become beleivers!

re: “It is so easy and sinfully stylish in secular urban circles to bash Catholic Christians.  Like kicking Mother Theresa—she will not fight back and will always forgive you.”

First point, we are calling out good Catholics to demand a full accounting from the Pope. None of this circular talk about sin and secular issues creating the environment that fosters child rape.

Second Point, where are the whistle blower priests? Do you deny that a significant number of priests and other church employees were aware of the child rape and simply invoked the “greater good” rationalization.

Third Point, you seem to forget that Mother Teresa was exposed as a non-believer, yet imposed on her poor ignorant clients the indefensible doctrines of no birth control or abortion. She deserves to sit at the right hand of Hitler in the pantheon of evil incarnate.

Under American law, I think the Church would have a pretty hard time making the case that bishops are independent contractors.  For one thing, bishops work exclusively for the Church.  They are not free lancers.

It is especially ironic since the Church has historically been regarded as a model of top-down authority, in existence before the modern state or corporations.

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

By turbamagna, May 17 at 10:36 pm

Not a shortage of wood by slow roasting the heretics and
blasphemers, but for melting and forming glass for the
‘magnificent castles and cathedrals’ doting the landscape all
around europe.

I would not feel very remorseful if the pope and his hooligans
were boiled in oil and/or tarred and feathered and run out of
town on a rail.

Burn all of these bastards at the stake - the Pope being the first. Was there not a shortage of firewood in Europe for some 600 years during the “Dark Ages” because it was used to slow burn hundreds of thousands of innocents?

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

Reminiscent of bishop w and bishop dick not being liable for
what they did in a sick kind of way. But religion and government
are old friends you know.

Often in politics and business it is said that the cover-up is worse than the original crime. In the case of the Vatican both the cover-up and original crimes are equally heinous.

•  Where are the good Catholics who have the courage to step-up and collectively demand Ratzinger’s resignation?

•  Where are the good Priests who should have been whistle-blowers decades ago? Are their ethics such a thin and unsubstantial veneer that they swallow whole the simplistic “greater good” argument?

•  Do Catholics worship their Tri-Headed God or the Pope – if you need to be intimate with the imaginary triplets, why can’t you find Jesus, et. al. via the alternative Protestant faiths?

Better yet, reject the nonsense and embrace reality, for this short, sweet, wild ride called life. And you can live forever in the memories of those that you’ve touched with your flawed, but beautiful human heart.