First, a little background information. Today is April 20th, 2005. On this day in 1233, Pope Gregory IX placed the Inquisition under the authority of the Dominican Order. In 1962 (not on April 20th), Pope John XXIII established the Crimine Solicitaciones. The Crimine Solicitaciones was sent to "all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops and other diocesan ordinaries" and is the official policy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Crimine Solicitaciones orders victims of clergy sex abuse to remain silent and for the offending clergy to be moved to a new parish.
Okay, now that the background information is out of the way, what does that have to do with today? Surely there is no more Inquisition. But in fact there is, under the name The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Inquisition changed its name in 1908, having failed to execute anyone for all of eighty two years (the last recorded execution occured in 1826). The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was until recently led by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who made a point of casting out Liberation Theologists and other reformers. Well, surely the Crimine Solicitaciones isn't still in effect. But in fact it is, according to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Okay, so Ratzinger led the modern Inquisition and enabled decades of child abusers (by the Catholic's own estimate, ten thousand children abused by four thousand clergy). But what has he done lately? He ordered Bishop Robert Vasa to deny Communion to Senator John Kerry because Sen. Kerry is pro-choice. And one other thing... what was it... oh yes, Ratzinger recently became Pope Benedict XVI, leader of one of the world's most powerful religions (the only religion with a seat in the United Nations). No worries.
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