When will the Sovereign Nation, the Vatican, be brought to the European Court of Human Rights charged with collusion, obstruction of justice, pandering and giving safe haven from prosecution, of known predator pedophiles and failure to act in the best interests of thousands of children?

'Defrocking’, 'resignation' - these priests who raped children should have been imprisoned, so too the Bishops who blatantly obstructed justice and haughtily lived above the laws of the lands in which they served. Catholics en mass seem to be suffering from Stockholm syndrome as they blindly continue to ruminate rather than rebuke the tripe spewing from Ratzinger. The Vatican's modus operandi eerily parallels that of pedophilic grooming, abusing, behavioral traits; 1. Secrecy, 2. Fear, 3. Guilt, 4. Power, 5. Shifting blame, 6. Control and Manipulation.

It seemed prosaic that a week after Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), penned an 18 page tome to the Irish faithful where he pronounced “considering the gravity of these offenses, and the often inadequate response to them on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities in your country, I have decided to write this pastoral letter to express my closeness to you…”, that we now have evidence of direct knowledge of abuse to the man himself not only as Pope, but complicit knowledge and inaction as supervisor and bishop. Yet his address to the Catholics of Ireland places clear emphasis on “your country”. This demonstrates a distinct attempt to remove any responsibility or culpability from the boundaries of the Holy See. He continues “the church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenseless children.” Indeed it does.

One has to ask how and why we came to this.

The pope believes a ‘fast-paced…secularization’ of Irish society is to blame. He is right in that regard, but not to his favor. The diminishing autocratic authority that gripped Ireland for well over one-hundred years (the Catholic Church took over where the British left off), has lost its grip. The result is a people no longer willing to bend over and take it. Encouraged and emboldened perhaps by the reports emanating from the U.S., the rape victims began to speak out. And the faithful began to listen.

How did his holiness address this? Toward the conclusion of his letter to the Catholics of Ireland; “I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011 to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of reconciliation…” Talk about misdirected blame.

For the leader of the Catholic Church to burden the faithful priests, nuns and parishioners of Ireland with the sick guilt of psychopathic predators in its employ, can only be described as delusional narcissism. And worse.

Perhaps his holiness should revisit the legal Vatican document known as “Crimen Sollicitationis” updated in 1963 by Pope John XVI as a means of investigating and judging sexual advances made in confessionals during the sacrament now known as reconciliation. It is important to note that anything that transpires during confession is sworn to secrecy. Of course one begs to ask the question why an entire policy outlining specific details (over 70 procedures are outlined) are required to deal with offences that occur while hearing confession? The Crimen has a subsection dedicated specifically to homosexuality, sexual abuse of minors and bestiality, known as “Crimen Pessimum”. Further reading under Canon Law elaborates on the victim’s oath of silence under threat of excommunication. And the absolution of sin bestowed upon the victim. Again, classic traits of predator abusers; bestow blame and guilt on the abused.

Canon law is archaic, secretive, and has no place in today’s society when dealing with the rape and sexual molestation of children. The United Nations Conference on the Rights of the Child was penned in 1989. It requires that States act in the best interests of the child. If the Catholic Church, as a religious institution can’t uphold that, then it is up to the U.N., the European Court of Human rights and Governments and Law Enforcement agencies to ensure that they do.

The very existence of the detailed policies in place under Canon Law to deal with this issue is proof that Church Officials, headed in Vatican City, have been only too aware of this abuse for many centuries. Further they devised methodologies to deal with the problem and keep a lid on it, with complete disregard for victims or prevention of further abuse. With so much recent research proving serial child molesters are as likely to be cured as serial killers, the Churches stance of letting the perpetrators loose on an unsuspecting society, sans the white collar, is itself an act of depraved criminality.

Yet with all of the detailed policies and procedures with much emphasis on oaths of secrecy and permission to transfer offenders, Pope Benedict still claims he was unaware. Really? His predecessor appointed him to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern day inquisitor, the central-sorting office if you will, of all things down and dirty in the secret trials and reports obtained under the courts of Canon Law. But he claims to have been unaware. As he so innocently wrote to the Catholics of Ireland ‘I have been deeply disturbed by the information which has come to light regarding the abuse of children and vulnerable young people by members of the church in Ireland…I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal…’

As more emerges connecting the dots to his holiness with cases such as Lawrence Murphy, Friederick Fahr and Peter Hullerman, that sense of betrayal may well reach beyond the already stretched bounds of Vatican oversight. The pontiff concludes; ‘Only by examining carefully the many elements that gave rise to the present crisis can a clear sighted diagnosis of it’s causes be undertaken and effective remedies be found.’ And that ‘ the bishops will now be in a stronger position to carry forward the work of repairing past injustices and confronting the broader issues associated with the abuse of minors in a way consonant with the demands of justice and the teachings of the Gospel.’

‘Teachings of the Gospel’? Jesus, in whose footsteps the Vatican claims to follow, had no problem 'diagnosing' and determining how to deal with child abusers. In fact he was quite clear;

Matthew 18:2-6: And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Jesus said in three sentences what Pope Benedict couldn’t cover up in 18 pages.

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