In the news

"Your Holiness, there's a woman here to see you."

Reuters News is reporting this morning that SNAP and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court.  In this complaint, they charge Pope Benedict XVI and three others personally responsible for tolerating and encouraging sexual abuse.

"Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome," CCR attorney Pam Spees said.

What is of interest is that the Vatican (like 43 other nations i.e. Israel, Syria, Iraq and North Korea) never signed or ratified the Intenational Criminal Court treaty, so there's question of jurisdiction.  On the other hand, Libya was another non-signatory nation and Col. Qaddafi is presently charged with crimes against humanity.

At best, these proceedings will cause the RC hierarchy to make substantive changes in their stance and force the Vatican to practice what they preach regarding moral rectitude and obligation.  At the very least, it will force the connection between the parish pedophile and their papal protector and that has far-reaching legal implications in the US civil court system.