I recently viewed a tweet that said: Can we label them a criminal organization yet? The reason I mention that tweet is it is precisely what I was thinking at the time. How much does it take for the government, any government, to stand up and not just take notice, but to prosecute what more and more seem to be referring to as a criminal organization? I’m not naive enough to believe that anything substantial will ever happen, but maybe someday, someone will decide to take a stand a shut down this corrupt organization.

Yes, I’m making reference to the latest revelations out of the Catholic Church. It’s not enough that they have been exposed for their pedophile priests, and the decades old cover up from the hierarchy of abuse of boys and girls under their care. Now, it’s been reported in recent days that priests and bishops have been sexually abusing Nuns. Yes, you read that correctly. There are charges of rape, even sexual slavery. The pope has not only admitted that these crimes have occurred, but are still occurring. Although I have yet to be able, from the reporting, to determine how long this latest criminal activity has been going on, in at least one article, it has been traced back to the 1990’s. I wonder how far back these offenses actually go and I think in the future, we may discover that it’s been longer than that.

Of course, the church says they are still investigating and that some clerics have been suspended. Suspended? Why haven’t these men been arrested and jailed? Why is it that the church itself is investigating these crimes? Isn’t that like the Mafia investigating the murders they’re accused of committing? How can any country, and the current number is 23, where these criminals operated, not be directly involved? Lots of questions, few answers. To make matters worse, those who’ve been victims, were forbidden to disclose their assault. Of course that’s an attempt at a cover-up, at least until the leadership can find some way to minimize another horror.

I wonder what Catholics think about this latest disclosure? After all of the stories of pedophelia, for them to discover that not only have their children been in danger for decades (or longer), but that priests and bishops of their church have been sexually assaulting Nuns as well? How many shocks to their system will they be able to take? Of course, in a couple of days, this story will have disappeared completely from the media, and those Catholics, like the rest of us, will continue on with our lives, until the next revelation.

When will we decide as a society that this institution is nothing more than a criminal enterprise? Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever see their demise. That’s too bad.

UPDATE: Just before I was read to press the publish button for this post, I ran across an article from CNN where the Vatican walked back the pope’s statement concerning sexual slavery, saying he really meant manipulation, not slavery. Tamping down the outrage. I think it’s too late.