That is it...gloves off

I'm not Catholic, hey, I'm not even Christian, so when the Cardinals voted someone with Nazi ties to the papacy, I said nothing here. It was an 'internal matter', after all. When the latest sex abuse scandal broke with papal ties to a coverup and the same Pope made it seem like poor him and isn't that awful, and who cares about the victims anyway, I didn't say anything on this forum, either, because I'm not anti-Catholic and didn't want to seem to be. I actually liked the last Pope pretty well.

Then this, on Good Friday, during Pesach, no less:

Pope's preacher compares abuse row to anti-Semitism

Pope Benedict's personal preacher has compared criticism of the pontiff and Church over child abuse to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

Say what????

So this case--in which, incidentally, the victims are people who were abused as boys and girls whose trust of priests led them to betrayal and exploitation, and not the pontiff or the offending priests, at all, let us remember--the pope's personal preacher believes that the Church's suffering is equal to the millions upon millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust, in pogroms, in various anti-Semitic attacks over the ages, often from a mistaken Christian belief that Jews killed Jesus?

Granted, the Pope was not sitting in his infalliable chair putting this forth as doctrine. But it was a comment from someone in his entourage, who was no doubt picked for that position and will probably not be reassigned or censured for his offensive remarks, so he might as well be talking for the Church.

The Vatican is out of touch with many of its Western adherents, and it's out of touch with good marketing/crisis control. It should welcome the prosecution of predatory priests, not cover their activities up--because what they're doing is unholy. Just yesterday I read that the Pope himself, as a head of state in Vatican City, need not testify about the cover ups because he has immunity. How absolutely fortunate for him. And it may hinder the prosecution. But you know what? If I were Catholic (and fortunately I never was, as the indoctrination of Catholicism is harder to escape that that of any other Christian sect, I believe), this would really rock my faith in the Church terribly, if there were any faith left at all to have.

Is there any way to recall a Pope? Weren't there ways in the Middle Ages, or did they just poison them? I should know but papal history rather bored me--so many Roman numbers. Can the College of Cardinals go back and say, sorry, Satan showed up that day and made us do it?

They're going to have to do something to deal with this disease from within the Church to reassure their followers that they still have the ticket to God's plan, or suffer schism or flat out emigration from the ranks to other faiths (if any). And so far, they've been ineffective, clueless, and offensive. If they were an individual they could just go into rehab and apologise, but they are the premiere institution of faith in all of Christendom, celebrating their holiest time of the year, and failing miserably to inspire anyone to the goodness of the message. And that's rather sad.

Okay, enough ranting, my pizza is here.