he Vatican issued this statement following the release of the Ryan report which chronicled years of abuse at the hands of priests and nuns in Catholic run reform schools, stating that Pope Benedict XVI was visibly upset and distraught. They also claim the Pope has been busy pressuring churches to be more open about the abuse. For anyone familiar with history, however, his crocodile tears are not enough to make us forget this is the same man who played a lead role in the cover up of abuses of children by the clergy.

If you really want to know how hollow and meaningless his words truly are, ask yourself how many individuals have been named in the abuses in Ireland so far. Until now, not a single name or arrest has been made. Is this beyond the power of the Pope? Of course not. If he really wanted to be part of the process, he would release the identities of every priest who committed any abuse and would rout them out of the organization. I think we can all agree such a thing will never happen; the Church is more concerned with protecting their institutions than they are in protecting kids. It’s why the abuses will never stop so long as they continue to operate with such impunity toward the law.

The governments of the world are all too gutless to demand the Vatican make the identities of offending priests public knowledge. What else can you expect from an organization that boldly claims they are the official spokesperson of an all powerful entity? Why anyone takes their claim seriously (despite the atrocities they commit) is beyond me. I can’t seem to win the argument to stop giving these guys tax free status, but do we also have to make them immune from prosecution? How insane is that?