Wom, you words are so eloquently put and so spot on. I could not agree with you more.

A few things I would like to add. It should not matter if these crimes were commited last week or in the last 30 years, children suffered, lives were runined. Their suffering was not less 30 years ago, in fact it was probably greater since people did not speak up as much as they do today. These people Blue are still in great, great pain.

If one judges a persons behavior by past actions then one must take into account tha fact that if it was sweep under the rug and they were not punished in the past, the behavior has continued and perhaps become more brazen.

I have nothing against the church. My nephew Michael is considering priesthood. However I fear for him. Will he be abused by those higher up as has been mentioned on this thread?


LONDON – Protests are growing against Pope Benedict XVI's planned trip to Britain, where some lawyers question whether the Vatican's implicit statehood status should shield the pope from prosecution over sex crimes by pedophile priests.
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition on Downing Street's web site against the pope's 4-day visit to England and Scotland in September, which will cost U.K. taxpayers an estimated 15 million pounds ($22.5 million). The campaign has gained momentum as more Catholic sex abuse scandals have swept across Europe.
Although Benedict has not been accused of any crime, senior British lawyers are now examining whether the pope should have immunity as a head of state and whether he could be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction for an alleged systematic cover-up of sexual abuses by priests.
Universal jurisdiction — a concept in international law — allows judges to issue warrants for nearly any visitor accused of grievous crimes, no matter where they live. British judges have been more open to the concept than those in other countries.
Lawyers are divided over the immunity issue. Some argue that the Vatican isn't a true state, while others note the Vatican has national relations with about 170 countries, including Britain. The Vatican is also the only non-member to have permanent observer status at the U.N.
Then again, no other top religious leaders enjoy the same U.N. privileges or immunity, so why should the pope?
David Crane, former chief prosecutor at the Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal, said it would be difficult to implicate the pope in anything criminal.
"It's a fascinating kind of academic, theoretical discussion," said Crane, who prosecuted Sierra Leone's Charles Taylor when he was still a sitting head of state. "At this point, there's no liability at all."

This article continues, it's under Yahoo's home page.
So you see others too question weather the pope should be in jail.

If one commits a crime it cannot matter who one is.
The law applies to all weather you are a Catholic, a Buddist or a Lutheran. Wrong is wrong.

As a Catholic Blue I wonder why you would not want to take an active part in cleaning this mess up as much as one can and helping rid the church of sex abuse. Don't you want to make the Catholic church better?