1314 Grave Crimes

Boy, I’d hate to be the Vatican. Seems like they just can’t catch a break lately. Part of their problem may be that the Catholic religion, as administered by the Vatican, has become like every other swollen bureaucracy. It’s filled with all kinds of conflicting and complex rules, regulations, and procedures.
Especially since they’ve come a ways from the simplicity of the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” says nothing about degrees of sin; cardinal, venial or otherwise.
So lately they caused another flap. Seems they attempted to define how bad certain types of bad were. Notably, how bad molestation of children by priests was.
Secular law treats molestation by figures of authority pretty harshly. And rightly so. These are people children are led to trust, not your ordinary creepy pervert off the street. Having a policeman or a teacher child predator is a horrible thing. Even more so a priest.
The Vatican revised its rules and now says it’s a “grave crime.” Critics call the designation too weak. Other critics are furious about something else. Because another newly-listed “grave crime” is the ordination of women. That’s right. The Vatican places pedophilia and women priests in the same category of sin. A woman becoming a priest is subject to the same procedures and punishments as sex abuse.
These guys need to get out more. That’s what comes of leaving behavioral rule-making to a bunch of celibate old men in a cloister.
Some are saying the new rule wasn’t voted that way but someone fudged the results.
If so, this is a cloister fudge of major proportions.
Should have run that one through an outside focus group. If they turn public opinion around on this one, it’ll be a miracle.
America, ya gotta love it.