Mon Apr 4/05
One little Hitch 

I've been told that I let the Pope off "too easy" on Saturday, but my intent was not to analyze or critique the fine points of his life and reign. It was simply to say that he was a powerful and honest force for good, of a type we don't often see. It's true that Africans and South Americans would be better off with condoms, but it's also true that they'd be worse off without the Pope-inspired aid they receive. That the Vatican doesn't believe in birth control is insane, but it's right there on the label — they're not trying to hide anything; their efforts are honest.

But there is, of course, the small matter of the child sex ring the Church ran in the United States. On Friday, Christopher Hitchens — oh, what's the word… savaged? — yes, Hitchens savaged the Catholic Church on Friday, the basic premise being this: "I leave it to the faith-based to wrestle with all [the internal contradictions of their faith(s)]. Or rather, I would be happy to do so if they would stay out of my life." This sentiment is popping up a lot these days — see the very trenchant point that Colby Cosh makes amidst all the audience-baiting (bait taken), namely, that if we non-adherents are not allowed to question Church decisions that make no sense according to its own principles (e.g., "unconscious or delirious" people are not allowed communion (scroll down to the bullet points), so it being given to Terri Schiavo is a political gesture and not a religious one), then why should the Church be treated any differently from other politically motivated organizations? Anyone? Surely the role of religion is not to make life more complicated.

Sorry, this isn't going anywhere. Switching gears, the other intriguing thing that Hitchens says is that child abuse is "the most revolting crime on the books." Not to take anything away from his/Maureen Dowd's point — that it is ludicrous for the Vatican to plead for "understanding" for Cardinal Law and the pedophile priests in the face of all the natural human behaviour it deems zero-tolerance sinful — but the most revolting crime on the books? I mean, look, it's bloody revolting. It's a top-ten revolting crime, no question, but what about torture? Genocide? Cannibalism? Genocidal child murder, followed by cannibalism? There is only one word for a phenomenon wherein a non-lethal crime is considered the worst one can commit — that word is "hysteria" — but clearly the Pope and his underlings never fell victim to it. They were, unfortunately, under an altogether different spell.