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Monday, June 28, 2010

Religion I Pray That the Pope Stands Trial

Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 4:15 PM

The US Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by the Vatican in a landmark case that opens the way for priests in the United States to stand trial for pedophilia.

Allowing a federal appeals court ruling to stand, the decision means Vatican officials including theoretically Pope Benedict XVI could face questioning under oath related to a litany of child sex abuse cases.

I will drink so much blood of Christ if this day comes. And if it does, O Lord, please let it be televised.

Comments (19) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Never gonna happen. Foreign head of state. Leader of most widely practiced religion in the world. Forget it.

Posted by Pope Leprechaun on June 28, 2010 at 4:22 PM

What they should do is use RICO versus the Catholic Church for the cover ups.

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on June 28, 2010 at 4:31 PM

the Supreme Court hasn't and likely will never televise its proceedings

Posted by Reader1 on June 28, 2010 at 4:38 PM

The pope will stand trial when bart simpson is older than yoda

Posted by yourmom.com on June 28, 2010 at 4:40 PM

@ 2, I like it. Never happen, but it's a great thought.

Posted by Matt from Denver on June 28, 2010 at 4:45 PM

People I would love to see stand trial for Crimes Against Humanity: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George W Bush, Benjamin Netanyahu, Condeleeza Rice, Robert Mugabe, Charles Taylor & his buddy Pat Robertson, and Josef Ratzinger AKA Pope Benedict XVI.

Please add.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on June 28, 2010 at 4:50 PM

But what about in absentia? Mock trials can come in handy as well.

Posted by Vince on June 28, 2010 at 4:53 PM

That's a pretty big "theoretically."

Posted by Canadian Nurse on June 28, 2010 at 4:55 PM

I will shop naked at Pike Place Market for a full month if this shit ever happens.

Posted by The Skank on June 28, 2010 at 5:07 PM

There used to be a Catholic and Jewish seat on the supreme court. Now there are 5 Catholics and two Jews, an episcopalian and a protestant. So that makes this even more interesting. The vatican might think they have an advantage, but it could be the opposite considering how disenchanted so many American catholics are with Rome. Scalia might be reliable for them but I wonder about the others.

Posted by Steven Bradford

on June 28, 2010 at 5:10 PM

There is a 0% chance of that ever happening. The Pope is not just a religious leader, but also a head of state.

Posted by supergp on June 28, 2010 at 5:32 PM

@10: Really, you wonder about the others?

Posted by emma's bee on June 28, 2010 at 5:44 PM

Whether or not they ever question the pope (extremely unlikely), it's good to know that they might seriously start prosecuting pedophile priests, and maybe some of the bishops that covered it up.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on June 28, 2010 at 5:46 PM

We need an international criminal court w/ teeth and the power to extradite. Oh yeah, and a UN that's not a joke. What should we call call our attempt at world goverment 3.0? I'm for The League of United Nations.

Posted by OuterCow on June 28, 2010 at 5:51 PM

The Pope doesn't have diplomatic immunity?

Posted by Bauhaus I on June 28, 2010 at 6:38 PM

#15: It doesn't matter, because he's led war crimes
that killed and injured hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

Posted by Oh wait, that's Obama and Bush on June 28, 2010 at 7:21 PM

Even though I doupt we will ever see this pope being cross examined the best thing about this decision is that it cuts the Vatican down to size and diminishes their importance as a entity that is beyond the arm of the law.

Posted by Heather on June 29, 2010 at 8:03 AM

The Church has been around for the better part of 2,000 years. They know how to stall.

Posted by Karlheinz Arschbomber

on June 29, 2010 at 8:33 AM

Hold on! We couldn't try pedophile priests before? Is this new?

As much as I would LOVE to see the pope on trial there's no way in hell (so to speak) it will ever happen. Nope, all we can hope for is that there really is an afterlife and he'll get judged then.

@1 Catholicism is nowhere near the most practiced religion. Not by a long shot. Islam has a billion followers. Christianity as a whole is pretty close but Catholicism is only one sect of Christianity.

Posted by Root on June 29, 2010 at 8:45 AM