Sadly, many human Rights abuses take place in our age, and so it is to be wholly commended when the head of the Vatican state (the chap with the funny hat) highlights such abuses and speaks out against such horrors.
However, as we all know, things are not exactly squeaky clean within that organization. In addition to the ongoing sage of abuse, cover-ups, and denial of responsiblity we also now have the Vatileaks scandal. Horrified at the internal corruption and financial problems, Paolo Gabriele, who has worked for Pope Benedict XVI as one of his most personal aides for six years, leaked internal papers containing details of it all.
So what has happened to him?
Well, as pointed out by Catherine Pepinster, editor of Catholic weekly The Tablet, within an article in the Guardian …
After his arrest he was incarcerated for 50 days, initially in solitary confinement in a cell deep inside the Vatican; then under house arrest in his apartment within the Vatican City State. Despite the Catholic church still using Latin as an official language, it didn’t appear to understand habeas corpus. Yet human rights experts barely reacted to what was happening: when my publication, the Tablet, contacted Amnesty International about the butler’s situation, it had nothing to say.Only the LSE’s Prof Conor Gearty, writing in the Tablet, pointed out the scandal of it, particularly given how vocal Rome usually is about human rights.
Remember now, these are not the words of an external critic, this is the voice of the editor of a leading international Catholic paper.
In many ways it is not a surprise, the abuse scandal has demonstrated that they believe themselves to be above the law because their Cannon law is believed to override normal human laws, so it should come as no surprise to see this theocratic dictatorship behaving in a quite frankly thuggish manner.
Beyond what has happened to the whistle-blower there is also a bigger story here, it is a tale of corruption within the Vatican City State, and yet they appear to be once again more interested in preserving a cover-up and have almost no interest in investigating the allegations that the leaked papers have revealed.
Why oh why am I not surprised.
If curious, then you can click here to find out more about Vatileaks.