Potential Prosecution of Pope in UK

[Chairman Risus]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7094310.ece

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the "good of the universal church" should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

My personal opinion? I would love to see this actually work.

[Chairman Risus]

Honestly, this whole affair comes off as more of a publicity stunt, and will likely be received by most as such.

Most people will probably see this and think "What? That's ridiculous. You can't arrest the Pope."

But why not? I'm all for calling out this long standing hypocrisy. I'm really hoping something like this will happen and things will get shaken up.

[NotPublished]

I would love to see this happen. A pope arrested ... dreams come true.

Imagine how many people would get their knickers in a knot

[Jasper]

WHERE IS YOUR  PAPAL INFALLIBILITY NOW?

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

WHERE IS YOUR  PAPAL INFALLIBILITY NOW?

IN THE POPEMOBILE!

[Placid Dingo]

Papal Infallability only extends to matters of Theology.

[Kai]

Papal Infallability only extends to matters of Theology.

Theology can be extended to all matters, if you're the Pope.

[Richter]

Given the history the Catholic v. Protestant, such a declaration could not  be seen as entirely unbiased, though.  Also considering it's being privately funded, it will may almost certainly be colored as religious persecution.  I believe this is jsut shit - stirring.

[President Television]

I think Dawkins is sort of being a giant asshole here, but I would love to see this actually go through, if only because I'm extremely curious as to how well a Pope would survive prison.

[Cramulus]

yeah this isn't going anywhere

any criminal charges are going to the priest, not his boss

and the entire ordained catholic community is poised to take a bullet for the pope if possible

he's not going to resign - after all, he's the Infallable Chosen One.

[Bruno]

Has anyone ever (Catholic priest or otherwise) gone to prison for covering up child molestation?


Couldn't we build a case here in the US using the RICO act, specifically, those concerning obstruction of justice, and sexual exploitation of a minor?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00001961----000-.html

[Requia ☣]

I think you could build an accessory case against anybody who knew about the abuse but kept quiet.

This would include the families of the victims in many cases though.

[Jasper]

I think Dawkins is sort of being a giant asshole here

I like giant assholes - when they're pointed at the pope.

and the entire ordained catholic community is poised to take a bullet for the pope if possible

If someone takes the fall, then there is some victory.

If nobody takes the fall, how will that make them look?

This is one of those no-lose situations.

[wudgar]

I don't think Briton has the balls for this kind of thing anymore. That said, I would dearly love to see it happen.