Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have set a couple of lawyers to work, trying to build a case for arresting the Pope when he arrives in the UK for his state visit in September. The Pontiff's alleged offence is, of course the concealment of child abuse by Catholic priests over many years.
Meanwhile, Newsweek has published an analysis showing that Catholic priests are no more likely to be child abusers than any other men. The fact that literally millions of others may be guilty of the same offence in no way mitigates the horrors that seem to have taken place within the Catholic church over the decades. But the fact that Dawkins and Hitchens are so keen to nail the Pope suggests that their motivation may not be a thirst for justice or a desire to protect children, but something altogether more base.
Look at it this way. If the Pope had personally rounded up all of the offending priests and hauled them off to the nearest police station, do you suppose that Dawkins' and Hitchens' first reaction would have been to say "Well done to the Pope for dealing with this mess"? No, me neither.
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