The Pope should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.

Pope Benedict XVI and his international syndicate of child rapists have been a continual nuisance to this Earth and an impediment to the welfare of children everywhere. Though it is likely many Catholic leaders would seek to downplay the Pope's role in the church's sex abuse scandals, recent court documents now make it clear the current Pope was at the forefront of the church's handling of these matters. The evidence is unequivocal, the very head of the Roman Catholic Church is chiefly responsible for obstructing justice and for perpetuating the sex crimes that have plagued the Church. Accordingly, civil society must finish what the Vatican has failed to do, because one thing has been made exquisitely clear in light of these recent revelations. Acquiescence to or reticence about such debauchery is not morally salient with the aim of protecting children. =======> The Case Against The Pope: Why Joseph Ratzinger Must Be Prosecuted and Brought To Justice <======= C1: Joseph Ratzinger failed to defrock a priest that was a serial child molester. While he was in a position to remove a child rapist from the Church, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to take any action to defrock a priest that proved to be a serial abuser of children. According to Laurie Goldstein of the New York Times, "Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church." [1] Moreover, numerous court documents validate these allegations. [2] In particular, a letter was sent directly to Cardinal Ratzinger's office on July 17, 1996 that kept him informed of the predator priest. [A-B] Father Lawrence Murphy — the priestly pederast in question — was a known child molester as this issue was brought to the attention of Ratzinger. In fact, Murphy personally wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger on January 12, 1998 in a plea to avoid prosecution. [C-D] Unfortunately, his request was granted, and Murphy was allowed to retain his status as a priest until the day he died. Given these facts, it should be obvious that the failure to prosecute Murphy is largely a consequence of the current Pope's prior actions. C2: Joseph Ratzinger allowed the reassignment of a pedophile priest. As an Archbishop in the 1980's, Ratzinger allowed a pedophile to remain in the priesthood despite warnings that he must never be allowed to work with children again. This particular priest, Peter Hullerman, was discovered to be a child molester in 1980 and was given "therapy" by a psychiatrist that the Catholic Church turned to. Only days after this "therapy," Hullerman was transferred to another diocese in Munich and was allowed to continue his career as a child molester with his priestly robes still around him. Of course, his "therapy" didn't appear to work, since he later went on to molest more children. In addition, there is now concrete evidence that Ratzinger was directly involved in this state of affairs. Nicholas Kulish and Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times have shown that "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope and archbishop in Munich at the time, was copied on a memo that informed him that a priest, whom he had approved sending to therapy in 1980 to overcome pedophilia, would be returned to pastoral work within days of beginning psychiatric treatment. The priest was later convicted of molesting boys in another parish." [3] Furthermore, the memo in question also shows that "the future pope not only led a meeting on Jan. 15, 1980, approving the transfer of the priest, but was also kept informed about the priest's reassignment." In other words, Ratzinger knowingly transferred a pedophile to work with more children. Quite plainly, this is criminal negligence, and if the Pope were the head of a secular institution, it is quite likely that he would be dealing with much more than banal proclamations of moral disapproval. C3: Joseph Ratzinger sought to keep the church's sex abuse crimes secret. At the time that he was acting as the leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was diligently obscuring efforts within the church to uncover sex abuse. And all of this was going on as many Catholic priests under his jurisdiction were diligently torturing and raping children across the globe. [4] As though this wasn't bad enough, the clerical hierarchy of the church turned a blind eye to the whole situation. Moreover, there is now strong evidence to suggest that the church initiated a cover up in the aftermath of these events so that it could protect its reputation. Of course, these revelations are not surprising. For years the Catholic Church has demonstrated that it is more concerned with protecting itself as an institution than it is with protecting the children under its care. Unfortunately, this callous indifference was brought to a rather contemptible crescendo in the years of Ratzinger's prominence as a Cardinal. In May of 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger issued a confidential letter to every Bishop of the Catholic Church. In this letter, he reminded his subordinates what the penalties would be if any of them dared to expose pedophile priests to legal authorities or the press. He also made it crystal clear that charges against priests were to be investigated "in the most secretive way ... restrained by a perpetual silence ... and everyone ... is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office … under the penalty of excommunication." [5] Ratzinger's letter goes on to say that 'preliminary investigations' of abuse allegations are to be sent directly to his office and that such cases were to be handled under the Church's own jurisdiction. The letter concludes by stating that 'Cases of this kind [i.e., sexual abuse cases] are subject to the pontifical secret'. [6] Such sentiments have not only harmed prosecution efforts in the past, but they also endanger children in the present that could be abused because of the precedent of this policy. The Catholic Church — in its enigmatic role as being a bastion of moral wisdom and the vessel of eternal truth par excellence — has yet to excommunicate anyone for torturing and raping children. However, thanks to the work of Joseph Ratzinger, those within the church who would seek to protect children from rapists could very well risk losing their job in the church and face excommunication. In doing this, it seems almost certain that cases of sexual abuse will continue and grow since parishioners are more inclined not to report them. You see ladies and gentlemen, the Catholic Church does have its standards. Lucretius was right: Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. ::Conclusion:: In light of the recent evidence outlined above, it has now become apparent that Pope Benedict XVI had an intimate role in helping keep sexual abuse within the church secret; protecting child molesters from prosecution; and transferring a known pedophile priest who went on to molest more children. Words do not – indeed could not – adequately speak to the magnitude of these crimes. Consequently, the current papacy – and the clerical hierarchy that it watches over – now exudes the stench of an evil so foul and systemic that even an ocean of holy water couldn't dispel it. Luckily, the paper trail in these abuse cases leads back to the Vatican and to the doorstep of its most uncouth and decadent bete noire. What is needed now is not disingenuous pronouncements of forgiveness. The actions of this Pope require real justice - the kind of justice that the good people at The Hague seem apt to dispense. Sources: http://www.debate.org...