Attention media: since Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are running as the True Devout Catholics of the Republican Party, could you please ask them what their response is to this Papal decree?

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.

It’s been a bad week for Pope Benedict. From Italy to Belgium to Washington DC, courts everywhere seem to be taking a hard look at some of the activities of the Catholic church, and they’re not liking what they’re seeing. Worst of all, from Benedict’s point of view, is that the events of the last eight days are but a foretaste of the weeks to come.

How can senior members of a church that emphasizes confession and penance be so insistent on blaming others for its sins? And how could senior members of a church so obsessed with controlling the consensual sex of others have been so cavalier about the non-consensual sex of their own?

The Catholic Church, like its famed universities’ football teams, thinks the best defense is a good offense. In football, though, truth is not the goal or a casualty of bad playing.

The Catholic Church is really experiencing a similar decline that other respected institutions have felt in recent years. And like those other declines, it’s entirely of their own making.