Vatican to Protect Retired Pope from Legal Action in Sex Abuse
Pope Benedict XVI will live in a Vatican
convent for the rest of his life after a brief period at the papal
summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. By doing so, he will be protected
from prosecution in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world,
according to Church officials and legal experts.
“His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn’t have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else,” said one Vatican official. “It is absolutely necessary” that he stays in the Vatican. In the Vatican he will have protection of the Vatican police. Plus he will not be exposed to legal claims arising from the sexual abuse scandals. If he goes to live anywhere else, he could be arrested, arraigned, tried and imprisoned.
The Vatican will protect him because the Holy See is a sovereign state and inviolable territory, of which he is a citizen and resident. So long as he was pope, he had immunity from prosecution as its head of state. But now that he is no longer the pope, he is vulnerable. So long as he stays in Vatican property, and even if he goes outside the Vatican into Italy, he will be under the protection of the Holy See because of the Lateran Treaty.
Potential prosecution is not a far-fetched idea either. Keep in mind that Cardinal Ratzinger, for 20 years, was the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the infamous Inquisition. All allegations of sexual abuse were to be referred to the congregation.
Cardinal Ratzinger was responsible for handling all allegations of child abuse in the global church.
He would have known of many such cases, and would have advised lower church entities on how to protect the church and its priests from scrutiny and prosecution. He has been accused of ignoring sex abuse cases or shielding the perpetrators.
For instances, in 2010 Benedict himself “was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers eventually withdrew the case. Though the Vatican doesn’t expect any more cases against the “pope emeritus,” they aren’t taking any chances.
When Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010, Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist and author, along with Christopher Hitchens, a journalist, asked British authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the child abuse scandal. As head of state, there was nothing that could be done.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague was asked to investigate the pope and three other Vatican officials because of the sexual abuse scandal. Other organizations filed complaints against Vatican officials accusing them of crimes against humanity for similar reasons.
“‘(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state,’ one source said.”
The globetrotting Benedict XVI is now essentially a prisoner in the Vatican.
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.”
Revelation 18:6-8
Pope will have security, immunity by remaining in the Vatican
Pope Immunity: Vatican Will Protect Benedict From Sexual Abuse Prosecution
Wikipedia article on Catholic sex abuse cases
Wikipedia article on Pope Benedict XVI
Richard Dawkins calls for Pope to be put on trial
Online Rumor Claims Pope Resigned Over Arrest Warrant in Sex Abuse Scandal
http://www.ktfministry.org/news/3198/vatican-to-protect-retired-pope-from-legal-action-in-sex-abuse
“His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn’t have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else,” said one Vatican official. “It is absolutely necessary” that he stays in the Vatican. In the Vatican he will have protection of the Vatican police. Plus he will not be exposed to legal claims arising from the sexual abuse scandals. If he goes to live anywhere else, he could be arrested, arraigned, tried and imprisoned.
The Vatican will protect him because the Holy See is a sovereign state and inviolable territory, of which he is a citizen and resident. So long as he was pope, he had immunity from prosecution as its head of state. But now that he is no longer the pope, he is vulnerable. So long as he stays in Vatican property, and even if he goes outside the Vatican into Italy, he will be under the protection of the Holy See because of the Lateran Treaty.
Potential prosecution is not a far-fetched idea either. Keep in mind that Cardinal Ratzinger, for 20 years, was the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the infamous Inquisition. All allegations of sexual abuse were to be referred to the congregation.
Cardinal Ratzinger was responsible for handling all allegations of child abuse in the global church.
He would have known of many such cases, and would have advised lower church entities on how to protect the church and its priests from scrutiny and prosecution. He has been accused of ignoring sex abuse cases or shielding the perpetrators.
For instances, in 2010 Benedict himself “was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers eventually withdrew the case. Though the Vatican doesn’t expect any more cases against the “pope emeritus,” they aren’t taking any chances.
When Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010, Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist and author, along with Christopher Hitchens, a journalist, asked British authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the child abuse scandal. As head of state, there was nothing that could be done.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague was asked to investigate the pope and three other Vatican officials because of the sexual abuse scandal. Other organizations filed complaints against Vatican officials accusing them of crimes against humanity for similar reasons.
“‘(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state,’ one source said.”
The globetrotting Benedict XVI is now essentially a prisoner in the Vatican.
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.”
Revelation 18:6-8
Pope will have security, immunity by remaining in the Vatican
Pope Immunity: Vatican Will Protect Benedict From Sexual Abuse Prosecution
Wikipedia article on Catholic sex abuse cases
Wikipedia article on Pope Benedict XVI
Richard Dawkins calls for Pope to be put on trial
Online Rumor Claims Pope Resigned Over Arrest Warrant in Sex Abuse Scandal
http://www.ktfministry.org/news/3198/vatican-to-protect-retired-pope-from-legal-action-in-sex-abuse
With Passover Approaching, a Plague of Locusts Descends Upon Egypt
Egypt
Reuters
As if we hadn't already seen enough Biblical events this year, a plague of over 30 million locusts swarmed
over Egypt's cities and farms just three weeks before Passover begins.
But put your apocalyptic fears to rest. This happens every year as part
of the locusts' natural migration pattern, though this year's swarm is
especially large. That doesn't mean Egyptians aren't freaked the heck
out by millions of nasty bugs buzzing through the air at all hours of
day and night, possibly descending upon the agriculture fields where
they're known to destroy entire crops, just like in the actual Passover
story.
The crops are so far safe, Egyptian officials assured the public. As the plague made its way from the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia at the end of last week and this weekend, though, Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen explained the situation to the country in a calmly worded statement. "The current inspection teams at areas targeted by locusts did not witness swarms damaging a single inch of crop," said Moamen. He added that the locusts are "sexually immature and do not depend on plants for energy since they mainly rely on fat stores."
That
said, these plagues can be unpredictable.
Egyptian officials didn't expect the plague to pass by the country's capital, until Sunday when the locusts unexpectedly arrived in Cairo. The government denied reports that the locusts had started devastating crops as well as a report from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that the Ministry of Agriculture cleared 11,000 hectares of land in an attempt to save the harvest. When they get hungry, a one-ton hoard of locusts can eat the same amount of food in one day as 2,500 humans, according to the UN. Egypt knows this too. Less than a decade ago, a plague of locusts nearly 40 miles wide swept over Egypt damaging crops at the majority of the country's farms. That's a picture of it, to the right.
Conflicting reports aside, Moamen insists that the government has everything under control. "Egyptian armed forces and the border guards are attempting to fight the swarm with the means at their disposal," the agriculture minister said. "I ask the families living in the locust-plagued areas not to burn tires. This does not chase away the locusts, but only causes damage and could ignite large scale fires that would cost in lives." Also, that smoke isn't doing Egypt's grandchildren any favors.
Scientists anticipate that, as global warming worsens, plagues like this will also get worse.
In this video, you can hear the awful roar that is a plague of locusts:
The crops are so far safe, Egyptian officials assured the public. As the plague made its way from the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia at the end of last week and this weekend, though, Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen explained the situation to the country in a calmly worded statement. "The current inspection teams at areas targeted by locusts did not witness swarms damaging a single inch of crop," said Moamen. He added that the locusts are "sexually immature and do not depend on plants for energy since they mainly rely on fat stores."
That
said, these plagues can be unpredictable.Egyptian officials didn't expect the plague to pass by the country's capital, until Sunday when the locusts unexpectedly arrived in Cairo. The government denied reports that the locusts had started devastating crops as well as a report from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that the Ministry of Agriculture cleared 11,000 hectares of land in an attempt to save the harvest. When they get hungry, a one-ton hoard of locusts can eat the same amount of food in one day as 2,500 humans, according to the UN. Egypt knows this too. Less than a decade ago, a plague of locusts nearly 40 miles wide swept over Egypt damaging crops at the majority of the country's farms. That's a picture of it, to the right.
Conflicting reports aside, Moamen insists that the government has everything under control. "Egyptian armed forces and the border guards are attempting to fight the swarm with the means at their disposal," the agriculture minister said. "I ask the families living in the locust-plagued areas not to burn tires. This does not chase away the locusts, but only causes damage and could ignite large scale fires that would cost in lives." Also, that smoke isn't doing Egypt's grandchildren any favors.
Scientists anticipate that, as global warming worsens, plagues like this will also get worse.
In this video, you can hear the awful roar that is a plague of locusts:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/03/passover-approaching-plague-locusts-descends-upon-egypt/62712/
Political Outcast
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Vision to America
March 5, 2013
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YESTERDAY'S FEATURE HIGHLIGHTED |
TEA PARTY ECONOMIST
| The TEA PARTY ECONOMIST
Ron Paul's original staff economist, Dr. Gary North!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
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Can You Answer This Left-Wing Defender of Controlled Local Markets?
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CBS News’ 60 Minutes ran a feature on China’s real estate bubble. It’s worse that anyone has heard. It has begun to pop. Today, the news is that China’s property-related shares are falling because of fears regarding this popped bubble. As must as 30% of China’s economy is housing-related. The biggest bubble in history has ... READ MORE Republican Governor Cuts State Income Tax Kansas has cut its state income tax to 4.9% at the top and 3% at the bottom. The top rate had been 6.45%. The governor, Sam Brownback, is now pushing for another cut at the top to 3.9%. His long-term target is 0%. The state’s constitution prohibits a deficit in the budget. So, he has ... READ MORE Video: Peter Schiff vs. John Mauldin on the State of the Economy My former partner (Mauldin) and my former stock broker (Schiff) square off. This is the way to get issues clearer. It’s muddle-through economics vs. the Austrian theory of the business cycle. My view: it’s time to prepare personally for the impact of the Austrian theory of the business cycle by taking advantage of Bernanke’s monetary ... READ MORE Who Will Win the Game of Sequestration Chicken? Obama says Congress must raise taxes on the rich. Public opinion polls say most Americans agree. Most Americans are thieves. They want all of the government-provided goodies at someone else’s expense. That is what the welfare state is all about. Speaker of the House Boehner says “no deal. Cut spending.” If he deviates this month, ... READ MORE Video: America’s #1 High School Basketball Team. Can This Be? The #1 team, according to the New York Times, is Lone Peak High School. With a name like Lone Peak, you can be sure of one thing: it’s not located in downtown Detroit. “There was one team we played that was literally laughing when we were warming up,” the senior center Eric Mika said with ... READ MORE | ||||||
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