Vatican Attacking Truthtellers Not a Good Plan

The New York Times had two articles today on the pedophile scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Rachel Donadio reported in her article (“Pope May Be at Crossroads on Abuse, Forced to Reconcile Policy and Words”) that yesterday an unsigned editorial in the Vatican newspaper (“L’Osservatore Romano”) “criticized The Times for an article published Thursday on the abuse issue. The Italian editorial said that Benedict had always handled such cases with ‘transparency, purpose and severity,’ and accused the news media of acting ‘with the clear and ignoble intent of trying to strike Benedict and his closest collaborators at any cost.’” In view of the fact that Archbishop/Cardinal/Pope Ratzinger has NEVER handled abuse cases with transparency, and in view of the fact that the news media is simply telling the truth (which truth, is now available via documents that lawyers have released), it’s beyond stupid for the Vatican to claim people are trying to discredit Pope Benedict XVI. And by beyond stupid, I mean: Desperate and idiotic. I am currently reading a book by James Lee Burke, an author I love in the mystery genre. The book is “The Tin Roof Blowdown”. Burke’s protagonist, Dave Robicheaux, lives is New Iberia, LA. This book is not only about murder and mayhem in Robicheaux’s parish, but it’s about Katrina and the woeful response by our government, then ruled by so-called president, George W. Bush. In the book, there is a black priest named Jude LeBlanc, who is dying of cancer. Father LeBlanc is a junkie because of his pain. He lives with and sleeps with his girlfriend who is a prostitute and a junkie. Still, the priest gives communion and absolution to sinners who ask for it, and he gives aid and comfort to whomever he can--once a priest, always a priest. I mention this only to say that I believe that if a priest such as Jude LeBlanc exists, he is more morally correct and in tune with God and the precepts of Jesus Christ than Pope Benedict XVI.