Some of you may think that's a rather harsh headline, but it's very true. This pope protected pedophiles by not allowing them to be reported and prosecuted, and by shuffling them from church to church while he led the church in much of Germany. Then he was brought to Rome and placed in a position where all reports of pedophile priests went directly to his office. Did he report any of them to the police? No. Did he kick any of them out of the priesthood? No. Not even after becoming pope. He did just what his predecessor did and protected those priests, because he thought the church's reputation was more important than the lives of innocent children being abused.If you've gotten the idea that I think the pope's resignation (effective on February 28) is more a cause for celebration than sadness, then you are right. He should never have been selected as pope, or indeed given any office that supposedly has any moral authority. He is a despicable human being.
Will the next pope be any better? Probably not. By the time these old men become a cardinal (and you must be a cardinal to be chosen pope), they are so invested in the church hierarchy that none of them are likely to make any real changes. The church has been protecting pedophiles since at least the 19th century (and probably even long before that). It is not an organization that easily accepts change.
But then that is true of all religions. They are all invested in protecting what has been built up rather than changing to meet the needs of the people they are supposed to be serving -- and pedophiles and other sexual deviants exist in all christian sects and all religions. That is because religious figures are put on a pedestal, and the religion's faithful don't want to believe in their fallacy. They forget they are just humans, and have the same faults and foibles as other humans have -- including pedophilia. That is not to be taken to mean that all religious figures are this way. But too many are, and their cloak of religious authority allows them to get away with their crimes and sins against ordinary people.
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If there must be a new pope chosen, then I make the following suggestion:
If some of you younger readers are not familiar with Father Guido Sarducci, I suggest you watch some of the old Saturday Night Live shows. Very funny stuff.
