So What Are They . . . Pals?

Are you ready for this? More unbelievable logic chopping from the Vatican is about to be foisted upon us all. Would you believe that the U.S. bishops--you know those guys who suborned the depredations of hundreds of pedophile priests for decades in this this country . . . yeah, those guys. Well, did you know that these people are not employees of the Vatican? And therefore--pay attention, here comes the punch line: the Vatican is not legally liable for the crimes of these scumbag priests. Their lawyer here argues that these bishops cannot be employees because the Church doesn't control their daily actions, they are not paid by Rome, and they don't act in Rome's behalf. Well, pardon me. These guys are controlled by Rome in virtually every aspect of what they do. Rome looms over Catholics like big black clouds on the Plains during tornado season.

It is unbecoming at the very least for the Pope to hide behind this kind of ridiculous rationalization. Rome is trying to head off the first of several lawsuits in the U.S. that seek to hold the Vatican responsible for the silence of the U.S. bishops while all these heinous crimes were being committed on children by priests across the country . . . and for years. Because the Vatican actually had a policy of silence on several sexually-related crimes. See the story here. Rome is intent on heading off the legitimacy of a lawsuit against it (this first case is arising in Kentucky, but others are pending.) before documents (which are sure to be incriminating) can be subpoenaed and the Pope questioned. 

I'm really not interested in delving into all the legal technicalities of this. I'm not interested in the minutia. (If you are, there is plenty in the comments to the cited article.) The outlines are clear enough to me as they are to millions of other Catholics. Rome is dodging responsibility for something it is clearly responsible for. And it's attempting to do so with high-priced lawyers and legal slithering. A pox on these damned people!

But in point of fact, Rome will in all likelihood be found not be legally liable . . . that's the way the law works. Some people also believe this is the Holy Spirit watching over the Church. Praise the Lord, eh?