Slap of the hand

South Park was right; the Vatican really does seem to believe that its everyone else's problem.

The children keep revealing what was done to them, the media is insufficiently deferential to their holiness and ask impertinent questions, their waning supply of believers want to know why child raping predators were protected and enabled and now that the cover-up scandal has come right to the Pope's door he's actually expected to take personal responsibility for his actions.

People keep asking if a culture of celibacy, of deliberately pushing those who reveal they are gay in confession to suppress their sexuality in the priesthood, of secrecy, authoritarianism, deference from the laity and unquestioned authority and access to vulnerable children are part of the problem.

Don't these disrespectful people understand that protecting the reputations of priests and bishops and the Holy Father himself is more important than a few dozen...hundred...thousand raped and beaten children?

If this was a new religion, IE a cult, the police tanks would have been knocking down church doors by now.

The church keeps trying to blame the evils of the modern world, claiming that permissiveness and waning adherence to faith are the cause of these problems - but it seems far more likely that these horrible acts have been happening throughout history and only now have people lost enough deference and awe of the church and priesthood to start holding it to account. The worldwide ebbing of faith is the only reason that the church is now getting seriously challenged on abuse and the protection of abusers.

Faith was the problem. Secularization was the solution.