Last week I wrote about three big scandals that no doubt gave Pope Benedict nightmares. Now, with a big story in the NYT, the nightmares continue, as bishops and canon lawyers — speaking on the record — call out the failures of then-Cardinal Ratzinger to deal appropriately with allegations of priestly child abuse when that was part of his office’s responsibility.

There are predators, and then there are enablers.

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about child sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests, deceptive Wall Street bankers, or DOJ-sanctioned torture. The game being played right now is the same, in all three venues: avoid accountability.

If you are, like me, confused about the answer to this question, please raise your hand….or better yet….ask your Congressperson, Senator and the President: Why is a pedophilia-ridden, pedophilia-hiding, child-abusing Church allowed to write laws controlling women’s rights?

Written by Jodi Jacobson, editor of RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

When Cardinal Law of Boston was in trouble over his handling of priests who abused children, the Peter Principle solution was to move him to a new job in Rome. Pope Benedict, however, can’t exactly do that in his own situation. There is one job, though, that might be a possibly acceptable step up for him from being pope: student teacher in a preschool.

The Vatican, today. The pope’s spokesman has launched a vigorous counter-attack against a report linking Benedict XVI to a sex abuse cover-up while he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1981. Father Federico Lombardi appeared to suggest in an interview on Vatican Radio that the pope, who also has strong links to the city [...]