Bruno's Child

If the latest reports are true, I believe a case can be made… a very convincing case… that what we now have in Rome is a pope who is infallible alright… infallibly negligent, to the point of criminality.  What else can one conclude when one sees this pope chastise a cardinal who criticized another cardinal for making slight of the sexual abuse of minors perpetuated by priests and then follow this with a document that talks of the sins of sexual abuse in the same breath as the “sin” of ordaining women to the priesthood?  I guarantee you’ll soon hear spin from the Vatican, and those who think the Vatican needs defending, to the effect that one shouldn’t confuse the two sins simply because they are addressed in a single document.

(cough cough)

Well… if one shouldn’t confuse the two then why treat of them both in one fell swoop?  Why did some genius in the Vatican decide doing so would be hunky dory?  What’s behind this decision, one may well ask… contempt for the critics of the Vatican? Invincible ignorance of the impact it could have?  Stupidity?

Whatever the reason, one can rest assured that infallibility has, indeed, reared it’s ugly head for the world once again.  Please color me fallible.

ADDENDUM: Said document reportedly has been released.  Full text is available as a PDF…

In the latest development of an incident I commented on here a while back, here and here, Reuters News Service is reporting that the pope met with Cardinal Schönborn about his criticism of Cardinal Sodano and the Vatican issued a statement saying,

“Regarding accusations against a cardinal, we remind everyone that, in the Church, only the pope has the authority to accuse a cardinal,” said the statement, a rare case of the Church making its internal bickering public.

The full report can be read here.

I find it striking that a pope will publicly rebuke a cardinal for rebuking a cardinal.  Where, exactly, do we find this imperative in the Gospels?  Maybe we find it in Canon Law?  Anyone have a clue on this or is this a case of a pope simply throwing his weight around against a cardinal who clearly is trying to remove some of the toxin in the Church over the mishandling of sexual abuse cases?

ADDENDUM: Good article from the NY Times, “Church Office Failed to Act on Abuse Scandal.”