(Newsweek:) Bring the Pope to Justice

[markomalley]

Everybody’s favorite atheist (well maybe nr 2 for some) Christopher Hitchens writes the following analysis piece in Newsweek:

Detain or subpoena the pope for questioning in the child-rape scandal? You must be joking! All right then, try the only alternative formulation: declare the pope to be above and beyond all local and international laws, and immune when it comes to his personal and institutional responsibility for sheltering criminals. The joke there would be on us.

The case for bringing the head of the Catholic hierarchy within the orbit of law is easily enough made. All it involves is the ability to look at a naked emperor and ask the question “Why?” Mentally remove his papal vestments and imagine him in a suit, and Joseph Ratzinger becomes just a Bavarian bureaucrat who has failed in the only task he was ever set—that of damage control. The question started small. In 2002, I happened to be on Hardball With Chris Matthews, discussing what the then attorney general of Massachusetts, Thomas Reilly, had termed a massive cover-up by the church of crimes against children by more than a thousand priests. I asked, why is the man who is prima facie responsible, Cardinal Bernard Law, not being questioned by the forces of law and order? Why is the church allowed to be judge in its own case and enabled in effect to run private courts where gross and evil offenders end up being “forgiven”? This point must have hung in the air a bit, and perhaps lodged in Cardinal Law’s own mind, because in December of that year he left Boston just hours before state troopers arrived with a subpoena seeking his grand-jury testimony. Where did he go? To Rome, where he later voted in the election of Pope Benedict XVI and now presides over the beautiful church of Santa Maria Maggiore, as well as several Vatican subcommittees.
​

 

[unafraid]

Chistopher hitchens, poster-boy for Marxism, Atheism and bi-sexuality, fomenting discord and malice, running around in frantic spasm, ravenous for the the blood and flesh of the Church. What a shock! I would love to have a look at his passport. Wonder if Bangkok, Rio and Capetown appear with inordinate frequency? Something about Hitchens gives me the impression that this very “child-rape”, which he uses as a platform from which to launch his very own private vendetta against God, is an experience of which he has intimate, personal knowledge.

Imagine the interior life of this hate monger. How dark must be the ruminations of his mind when he is alone, separated from his public persona and the adoration of his minions. His brazen vituperations against the Church are so hysterical that they possess an almost Hitlerian ecstatic and forboding quality. His hatred seems almost otherworldly in its venal and guttural intensity. Truly a dark figure destined to fall horribly in the end.

Perhaps his brother, Peter (a Christian), will convince him at the very last to convert. It can happen. British philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge, a vehement atheist for most of his life, coinverted to Catholicism in his old age and became a strong proponent of the Faith.

 

[Brooklyn]

Chistopher hitchens, poster-boy for Marxism, Atheism and bi-sexuality, fomenting discord and malice, running around in frantic spasm, ravenous for the the blood and flesh of the Church. What a shock! I would love to have a look at his passport. Wonder if Bangkok, Rio and Capetown appear with inordinate frequency? Something about Hitchens gives me the impression that this very “child-rape”, which he uses as a platform from which to launch his very own private vendetta against God, is an experience of which he has intimate, personal knowledge.

Imagine the interior life of this hate monger. How dark must be the ruminations of his mind when he is alone, separated from his public persona and the adoration of his minions. His brazen vituperations against the Church are so hysterical that they possess an almost Hitlerian ecstatic and forboding quality. His hatred seems almost otherworldly in its venal and guttural intensity. Truly a dark figure destined to fall horribly in the end.

Perhaps his brother, Peter (a Christian), will convince him at the very last to convert. It can happen. British philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge, a vehement atheist for most of his life, coinverted to Catholicism in his old age and became a strong proponent of the Faith.

There is not a doubt in my mind that Hitchens is an agent of the devil, just as the apostle Judas was. No one could be saying these hateful things about such a holy devout man as the Pope without being prompted by the devil. But at the same time, we have to be careful of making accusations against him that cannot he proven, i.e., that he is a child molestor. Also, with people like this, I always remind myself that Christ said he died for sinners. That means that Christ shed his blood for Christopher Hitchens, which means we need to pray for him. It goes against the natural part of me to pray for men like this who are so hateful and vile, but that is what we are commanded to do.

 

[catharina]

Hope the readership of Newsweek drops to nothingness.
Also hope that former readers inform Newsweek as to WHY they won’t be readers now.

 

[Mike5575]

We should bring Newsweek to justice for reporting inaccurate information about the sex abuse scandals. As well as The New York Times, and the AP. The Pope is in no way connected to these sex abuse cases. Christopher Hitchens is a bitter man. Coming from someone that trashes Mother Teresa, would it suprise anyone that he would try to go after the Pope like that?

 

[dennis01]

Let me get this straight: Predators operated freely in Cardinal Law’s diocese. When trouble resulted, he moved a predator from one parish to another (unsuspecting) parish. But parishioners went to the cops and predators were arrested, tried and convicted - without Cardinal Law’s help. The pressure continued to build, and Cardinal Law left the country. Where did he go? Rome. Who’s in Rome? The Pope.

Talk about handing an enemy of the Church a gold-plated issue!

It was Cardinal Law - not Christopher Hitchen - who brought the issue to the Pope’s doorstep.

Ad hominem attacks on Hitchen (yes, he’s a jerk) won’t change that. Neither will getting mad at Newsweek for giving Hitchen a place to gleefully make his points.

We do need to pray for Hitchen, Pope Benedict XVI … and maybe Cardinal Law.

 

[catharina]

Let me get this straight: Predators operated freely in Cardinal Law’s diocese. When trouble resulted, he moved a predator from one parish to another (unsuspecting) parish. But parishioners went to the cops and predators were arrested, tried and convicted - without Cardinal Law’s help. The pressure continued to build, and Cardinal Law left the country. Where did he go? Rome. Who’s in Rome? The Pope.

Talk about handing an enemy of the Church a gold-plated issue!

It was Cardinal Law - not Christopher Hitchen - who brought the issue to the Pope’s doorstep.

Ad hominem attacks on Hitchen (yes, he’s a jerk) won’t change that. Neither will getting mad at Newsweek for giving Hitchen a place to gleefully make his points.

We do need to pray for Hitchen, Pope Benedict XVI … and maybe Cardinal Law.

Do you recall (or you aware) that Cardinal Law spent two years as the confessor
for a convent in Maryland - between his time in Boston and his position in Rome?

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

There is not a doubt in my mind that Hitchens is an agent of the devil, just as the apostle Judas was. No one could be saying these hateful things about such a holy devout man as the Pope without being prompted by the devil. But at the same time, we have to be careful of making accusations against him that cannot he proven, i.e., that he is a child molestor. Also, with people like this, I always remind myself that Christ said he died for sinners. That means that Christ shed his blood for Christopher Hitchens, which means we need to pray for him. It goes against the natural part of me to pray for men like this who are so hateful and vile, but that is what we are commanded to do.

 

[srlucado]

Why not exhume the body of JPII and put him on trial, too?

 

[Santi2]

Unfortunately, this vile and frivolous campaign against the Holy Father will heighten over here as we come closer to the date of the Papal visit. Purportedly intellectual atheists and secularists will come out of the woodwork with their misrepresentation of the laws and facts. And, there will be those who will believe them simply because, at the very least, they are just as ignorant of the laws and facts, or will blatantly refuse to accept laws and facts on the basis of self-promotion and their own anti-Catholic agendas.