Easy subject matter today.
Should the Pope Benedict XVI resign?
(At the very least, perhaps be charged under Florida law with attempt to conceal)?
Oh, silly me.
The Pope is above the law.
So back to the original question.
Should the Pope resign?
The Washington Post (3/26/2010):
(...)The Vatican is confronting what observers describe as its gravest test in years, with officials fending off allegations that Pope Benedict XVI mismanaged abuse cases that occurred years before he ascended to the papacy in 2005. No leading Catholic authorities or organizations have called on Benedict to take personal responsibility for the scandals, and Vatican watchers in Rome strongly maintained Thursday that there is no serious threat to the pope's position.
Yet the scope of the abuse cases emerging in Europe and new allegations this week that a Vatican office led by Benedict -- then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- failed to defrock an American priest who had allegedly molested as many as 200 deaf boys have again shed a spotlight on Vatican secrecy over such sensitive issues as church finances and abuse cases. It has put the ancient institution, famous for centuries-long debates over changes in church policies, under intense pressure to update its response time.
And how about the actions of the Boy Scouts of America, keeping confidential two decades worth of files on suspected molesters among its troop leaders?
Both cases substantiate the research.
(...)
Also, 93% of child sexual abuse perpetrators are known to their victims (Berliner, Schram, Miller, & Milloy, 1995; Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000); about 34% are family members and 59% are acquaintances (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000). Perpetrators reported that their victims were strangers in less than 30% of rapes and 15% of sexual assaults (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997). In Wisconsin, it was found that none of the recidivistic offenses in the study sample were for predatory sex crimes involving strangers (Zevitz, 2006b). The myth of stranger danger may lead to a false security for parents, whose children are at greatest risk of being abused by someone they know and trust (Berliner et al., 1995). (Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1--25).
In summation:
The perpetrator is known to most of the victimized, not the Friendly Stranger hanging out in one of Florida's child safety zones.
