One of the last things that Pope Benedict XV1 did before leaving Australia was to apologise to victims of sexual abuse by priests. This apology occurred in the presence of four carefully selected victims - in a room full of priests. Many will conclude that the representatives were selected for their docility - and that this reduced the chance of awkward questions being asked.
The apology is welcome, but unfortunately very little has really changed. The Catholic church insists that it's followers owe their allegiance to the church before any fealty to kings, presidents or other heads of state. This is the sticking point between Catholicism and the Communist government in China.
As a result of this dogma the church insists that sexual transgressions by priests will be disciplined by the church itself - and erring priests will not be referred to the police nor handed over for the courts to try and punish.
This has all the elements of future confrontation. The laws of this country demand that transgressors be subject to the statutes put in place by the parliaments and require any person with knowledge of a crime to make that knowledge known to law enforcement.
That requirement has not been enforced because the various political parties recoil from the prospect of a church figure being charged - and possibly sentenced to a term of imprisonment - for upholding church law above the law of the country in which he is a citizen.
As a result, erring priests have been shielded and in many cases simply moved to a different diocese - where they have continued to re-offend.
Sooner or later the church is going to have to come to terms with the fact that their clergy are citizens of the country in which they were born - and legally subject to that country's laws.
Inevitably elected representatives of the people will eventually decide that this " above the law " attitude of the Catholic church can no longer be tolerated.
This attitude has no legal standing - nor would it be supported by the general Catholic faith !
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