The church's crime wave is global. A French cardinal is convicted of concealing decades of sexual abuse by a priest in his jurisdiction; The Washington Post reports how clerical pedophiles "preyed on the most isolated and submissive children," at an institute for the deaf in Argentina. Scrutiny of Latin America, from which today's pope came, will be interesting.

In America, the acid drizzle of stomach-turning revelations might become a deluge now that 45 states' attorneys general have contacted Shapiro about possible investigations in their states. It is highly unlikely that the abuses and conspiracies of silence about them are confined to Pennsylvania. Asked if this might be, cumulatively, the worst crime in American history, Shapiro says: Perhaps, considering the power of the guilty institution, the scale and prolonged nature of the crime, and the "sophisticated criminal cover-up." He speaks of charging the guilty — when possible; many predatory priests have died, and statutes of limitations shield others — "the way you would typically charge the mob."