The Pope's Visit and the Real World

Liberal Conspiracy are asking a strident question:

Why is the government protecting the Pope from arrest?

The phrase "Awwwww, bless" springs to mind. But there's more:

The Pope’s proposed visit to the UK in September is costing the UK taxpayers as much as £12m for the four-day tour (not including the policing and security costs). How a man who claims to be the right-hand man of God could possibly need security is beyond me.

I'm not surprised it is beyond Adam Wilcox, the author of this remarkably naive article, since he seems to have no basic idea about the real world. I can think of at least one good reason why the Popey Pope needs security.

Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC were planning to bring a private prosecution in relation to the Pope’s alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

However, it seems the UK Government didn’t want the embarrassment of having the Pope arrested on our shores, so the new Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has moved to prevent the possibility of an arrest warrant being issued against the Pope during his state visit in September.

Yeah, um, it would be kind of embarrassing to have the fucking Pope arrested on his arrival in the UK. Particularly since he is the head of Church with a global reach and millions, if not billions, of worshippers following him (including people in this country). It would be the sort of awkward moment that most governments would wish to avoid. For diplomatic reasons, if nothing else.

Wilcox goes on to say:

The arrest of the Pope is morally the right thing to do, as this man is responsible for the systemic covering up of a worldwide network of child rape. But in summary, UK law is being changed so that a delusional, homophobic man who shelters rapists and sadists is not held to account when he visits the UK.

Well, I'm pretty sure that when this Pope's legacy is considered, it is going to focus on the whole child rape cover-ups and he's not going to go down as the best Pope we've ever had. But I also think that there is, at best, limited direct evidence to suggest that he should be arrested on arrival in the UK. And given said arrest would provoke a major diplomatic incident, I can kind of see why the government is reluctant to let any proposed arrest actually take place.

I want to make my own position quite clear here - I'd love to see that cunt Ratzinger wrestled to the ground Vic Mackey style and carted off to the local police station to be charged. I would whoop and holler as I watched it live on my TV. I'd love to see him imprisoned, and would hope that such an event would help to stigmatise and partially dismantle the utterly repugnant cult of which he remains the head. Unfortunately...

Unfortunately I live in the real world. Where the government is always going to put political and diplomatic goals ahead of what could be construed as moral ones. Sure, I would love there to be an actual ethical foreign policy. But as soon as any politician opens their big fat gobs and promises one, I know they're lying.

I'd like to see the Pope arrested. And Tony Blair. And George W Bush. Maybe Bill Clinton as well. Putin for sure. And let's throw Berlusconi into the mix for good measure. But given Duch - one of the genuine monsters of the last century - has only just been found guilty despite the fact that most of his crimes were committed before I was born, I'm not going to hold my breath over the conviction - or even the arrest - of any of the arseholes mentioned here.