The Shoes of the Fisherman Have Holes

I have a severe disconnect between the historical Jesus of Nazareth (and the average priests and nuns who follow in His footsteps) and the Byzantine pageantry of Vatican City.

I wonder if Jesus would recognize His simple message of love in the harsh proscriptions imposed in His name, like celibacy and the rejection of women priests that only evolved 300 years after His death. Or by the centuries of corruption, machinations and profiteering. Did I miss something in His teachings?

Five years ago, upon the death of John Paul II, much was made of his vow of poverty and his simple wooden casket. Hey, it's pretty easy to play poor when your every whim is catered to and you're surrounded by vast wealth, the finest works of art, multibillion dollar facilities and sumptuous amenities that would make a Saudi prince blush.

Instead of using the funeral, the conclave of cardinals and coronation of Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI to present a broad overview of the Catholic Church, media fed us their usual pabulum, glossing over anything controversial and juicing up the story by dangling names of possible successors in a kind of American Idol frenzy. Yeah, sure, a black pope. If they were anymore wrong in their predictions they could get jobs as CIA analysts.

It was the way the press covered American politics up until Watergate, sweeping thousands of years of debauchery, carnage and political intrigues under the papal red carpet. From bishops selling indulgences and fake martyrs' relics to chaining child concubines in Friaries. From internecine battles resulting in simultaneous (anti-) popes, two of whom, coincidentally, named Benedict (V and IX), to the murderous Crusades and Inquisition that massacred hundreds of thousands.

From the suppression of Galileo and other scientists and theologians to papal sanctions for Spanish and Portuguese exploitation of the New World in return for plundered treasure. From Pius XII's collaboration with the Nazis in exchange for sanctuary of Church assets to the Vatican treasury laundering multibillion dollars of drug money in the 1980s.

Given this sordid history, tell me why people are still shocked that Benedict is knee-deep in covering-up the Church's sexual abuse scandals. As a Cardinal, Ratzinger, nicknamed "God's Rottweiler," was the pope's chief enforcer on matters of faith and morals when he ignored repeated warnings about the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, a Wisconsin priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys. And now it turns out as archbishop in Munich, Benedict recycled a pedophile priest even after learning of his transgressions.

The Church claims the Holy Spirit guides its actions. If so, either He's been notoriously AWOL for much of the last two millennia or He's a very disgusted specter.