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  Pope, Atheists on Collision Course

By Bob Ripley
London Free Press
April 17, 2010

http://www.lfpress.com/comment/columnists/bob_ripley/2010/04/16/13616441.html

Children of the Jesus Movement in the early 1970s may remember a pattern of inkblots that made the rounds back then. Staring at the pattern could reveal the outline of a face. The invitation was to "Find the hidden Jesus."

Finding the veiled Saviour is a challenge today, concealed not in blots of ink but the blot on the church that bears his name.

Faithful folks are struggling to stay faithful between the emboldened atheism of scientist Richard Dawkins, author Christopher Hitchens et al on one side, and the clergy sex abuse crisis on the other.

Both forces appear headed for a showdown when Pope Benedict visits Britain in September where he plans to beatify the 19th-century theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman.

Dawkins and Hitchens have lent their support to a scenario where legal experts, notably British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, believe they can ask Britain's Crown prosecution service to initiate criminal proceedings against the Pope.

They could also apply for a warrant through the International Criminal Court, using the legal concept of universal jurisdiction, which allows judges to issue a warrant for a visitor accused of egregious crimes, no matter the person's nationality or where the crimes were allegedly committed.

Although the Vatican did not sign the accord to establish the ICC, a crime need only have to occur in a country that did sign and British judges have shown they are more willing to invoke the principle of universal jurisdiction than judges in other countries.

The most famous legal precedent was when Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested at a London hospital on a Spanish warrant in 1998 turning him into the poster child for universal jurisdiction In support of the move to have the Pope arrested, Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said, "This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence." Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, said, "This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalized concealment of child rape is a crime under any law." The key issue is immunity. While a visiting head of state would have sovereign immunity from charges, the question is whether the State of Vatican City, which sits on 44 hectares and has a population of 821, is in fact sovereign. The Vatican City State was established by declaration in 1929 and historical precedent has afforded it absolute sovereignty, including immunity from prosecution.

That may soon be challenged. Though the Pope's British tour is categorized as a state visit, he is not the head of a state recognized by the United Nations. Mark Stephens, a British lawyer working on the challenge, recently told the Guardian, "The Vatican is not recognized as a state in international law. People assume it has existed from time immemorial, but it was a construct of Mussolini, and when the Vatican first applied to become a member of the UN, the U.S. said no." The Vatican, however, has diplomatic relations with other countries and is a regular observer at international conferences.

Arresting the Pope may have the same chance as a snowball in Hades. What it does, however, is to draw attention to yet another distinction between church and state.

The Pope faced criticism after it emerged that before he became pope, he signed a letter delaying the punishment of a pedophile priest in the U.S. for the "good of the universal church." The future pontiff said that he needed more time to consider the case.

The Pope, officials say, has remained tranquil despite the brewing storm. He enjoyed his post-Easter vacation at the papal summer residence and this weekend travels to Malta where he's likely to meet with victims of sexual abuse of priests.

He may want to rethink Britain.

Rev. Bob Ripley is a retired United Church minister.

 
 

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