Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel have filed a 16,500-word complaint with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, saying they intend to pursue charges against Pope Benedict XVI for crimes against humanity for, among other things, “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes” and “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists,” and insists the Catholic Church illegally “acquires its members through a compulsory act, namely, through the baptism of infants that do not yet have a will of their own.” This sounds awesome. Also, hilarious.
Fagburn
I’d love to see the Pope charged with crimes against humanity.
Unfortunately this is doomed to fail as Sailer and Hetzel are two nutters who belong to a loopy cult, Universe Life.
Their last stunt was trying to get the Bible banned…
Fagburn
Sorry – typo above; Universal Life.
Oops!
Kieran
These two boys must be living in Wunderland. The chance of any action being taken against the Pope is about as likely to happen as Israel’s prime minister Bibi Netanyahu being tried in the Hague for War Crimes.
David Gervais
The original of the story is at:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0223/1224290630240.html
David Gervais
@FAGBURN: These might be loopy, but they seem to be sincere about taking on a big issue.
See:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?ref=SERP&br=ro&mkt=en-CA&dl=en&lp=DE_EN&a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kanzlei-sailer.de%2findex.shtml
DJ
Ahhh the Catholic Church. Corrupt since the 1400’s. It really irritates me because Christans spend so much time condemning gays but have priest molesting their kids… That just goes to show that they need to be minding their own damn business and paying attention to their own families.
Steve
The interesting thing is that the Pope is technically a head of state, which pretty much gives him immunity from any charges. The question is whether the court fully acknowledge the Vatican’s statehood, given that all its “citizens” actually come from foreign countries.
Nathan
@Steve: That’s pretty interesting; has there ever been another country composed entirely of first generation immigrants?
Justin N.
So, if Miz Benedict has been Top Christian for right at 6 years, and John Paul II was Top Christian for almost 27 years, then my math (27÷6) tells me that John Paul II is 4½ times more guilty than Miz Benedict.
Oh wait… forgot. JPII is a saint now. Damn.
John
I hope that Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel aren’t gay…
the crustybastard
Everything they allege is true.
And of course the case will be dismissed because religious people always see fit allow themselves special privileges with regard to the law.
Mark
When will the world finally pull the plug on this phony religion and put an end to the Vatican and its diplomatic status? What kind of religion is so concerned with wealth and earthly power as this church? Read a novel called On This Rock by Dave Leonard, yes, it’s fiction but it lays out exactly what this church is all about and it isn’t pretty.
Shannon1981
I really wish something would come of this, but not holding my breath. With the fall of the Pope and his crazy religion, Christianity in general would lose a lot of leverage and credit. But, once again, not holding my breath for anything to come of this. Oh, if only…
B
QUEERTY wrote, “This sounds awesome. Also, hilarious.”
What was even funnier was the guy who sued the Catholic Church because a tornado(?) blew down his house. His insurance company called it “an act of God” and refused to pay, so he sued the Catholic Church based on that church’s claim to be God’s earthly representative!
Harbo
Both John Paul II and Benedict deserve to rot in hell. They both knew what was going on between their priests and young boys and both did nothing about it. They chose to protect the church and sent the kids down thre shitter. Yet because of their lofty positions both seem to be immune from presecution. To add to their shame, John Paul has been made a saint. What a joke .I’ll never understand why anyone still pays any attention anything the catholic church says. It’s a sham and shame.
Jim Hlavac
@DJ: Ah, no, corrupt since about 315 AD when Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and skedaddled to his new city — Constantinople. After he left, the Roman Bishop was free to rule the city, and declared himself #1 Bishop, or Pope. He then started pursuing Jews to kill and seize their money and property, on which the Vatican in part sits. They also started the power politics in which the Church was embroiled for centuries. Every pope since then was somehow a bit of a scoundrel.
In the 1100s through 1300s the Pope’s weren’t just busy with the Crusades eastward, but did the slaughtering, looting and pillaging of the Lusatian Crusades against the Slavs, and the Cathar Crusades in the South of France. 2.5 million dead later the popes had quite a collection of booty, in more ways than one. Including the city of Avignon. Then they, the bishops and the kings of Europe ll argued over who got the money and from oh, 1250 to 1400 there were two, even three popes at a time, all warring with each other.
Then the 1400s got there, and the rest is history. 🙂
Strangely, in the 1490s Pope Alexander VI constantly had to issued edicts and bulls to all his cardinals and bishops all over Europe to leave the boys alone, and to always have chaperones around. He even fired a few for having a parade of 14-16 year olds up to the palace of the oddly named “bishopric.” Which is irony indeed.
Cam
Hey, if the $800.00 handmade Prada loafer fits….
Ken
This is a bad translation. The German expression “immer besser” corresponds to the English expression “better and better.” In this case, “ever new crimes” should be translated as “a growing number of new criminal cases.” That’s wordier but more accurate. The German word “verbieten” means both forbid and prohibit. The only noun form that exists in English is “prohibition.” “Forbiddance” is not a word.
The way that the Catholic Church acquires its members is irrelevant, but this point doesn’t invalidate the others.
It’s unlikely that they will prevail in their complaint, because the Catholic Church is a 500-pound gorilla that can do pretty much whatever it wants. (However, these issues are putting it on a weight-loss program.) Ratzinger will hide behind his status as a head of state. He does not have the humility to submit himself to secular judgments and penalties, as St. Peter did.
It’s interesting to note that one of the issues in the Protestant Reformation was the sexual immorality of priests. How many centuries has this been going on?
Ken
@Jim Hlavac:
You’re collapsing several centuries of history into one event. Here’s the actual time line.
Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius issued a decree in AD 311 legalizing all religions in the Roman Empire. Long after he was in his grave, Theodosius brutally prohibited all other religions than Christianity.
The bishop of Rome was just one of five Patriarchs. An ecumenical council, not an emperor, set up a line of escalation for disputes, with the bishop of Rome as the court of last resort, because it was the most important city and two apostles had been martyred there.
The only person who was called “pope” in the ancient world was the Patriarch of Alexandria. The head of the Coptic Church is still called “pope.” It is a term of affection, not a title.
We probably can’t speak of a separate Roman Catholic Church until the death of Gregory the Great in 604. The fall of the Roman Empire cut off communications, travel, and commerce. These factors divided east and west.
Many bishops of Rome disclaimed jurisdiction over the eastern patriarchs.
The Roman church was not officially distinct from the rest of the church until the Great Schism in 1054.
The bishop of Rome did not proclaim himself the head of all Christians until Unum Sanctam in 1302. At this point, he claimed jurisdiction over all other patriarchs. The bishop of Rome did not reserve the title “pope” to himself until 1374. Then all the bishops of Rome were retroactively given that title, which until that time was an honorific for beloved bishops or even priests.
The Reformation went full force on October 31, 1517. One of the issues during the Reformation was the sexual immorality of priests, which obviously began some time before this date.
Pete
@Ken:
ARE YOU A FEMINARIAN? You know so much about the Church.
Robert
The wording of the article is misleading. Two individuals can’t pursue charges. Members of the public can only file a complaint that will then be investigated by the prosecutor’s office. Though the prosecutor’s office is obligated to at least consider every complaint submitted, most would only get a quick read through the first sentence or so before being thrown out. This will be one of those.
Anyways, he isn’t an African dictator. Those are the only people the ICC is interested in anyways.
Dan
Awesome:)
ewe
Off with her head!!!
Paul F
@Mark: According the the Celestine prophocies (eerrgh, I wish my spell checker worked!)The current pope is the LAST one, hurray! If you believe the book of Revelation, Rome is going to be nuked. Pesonaly I hope that part is wrong. I LIKE the city, its loss would be a blow to world culture, while the loss of that little chunk of it might not be quite so devistating. Unfortunatly the Vatican has been squirrling away historic treasure for centuries and all of it is irreplaceable. Note to Islamic bombers; Please loot the place before blowing it up. Just kidding about that last part, that’s my sarcastic humor rearing it’s ugly head. Cassandra, care to take a swipe at me AGAIN?
doshie matthews
A trinity if earthquakes just hit..in Cuba, New Zealand and Japan. However, that has nothing to do with it. In the USA and Ireland the Pope’s army of pedophiles will stop raping children or we the people will order our armies to “Nuke the Vatican” and rid the world of the Gargoyles!
Seriously, why would any parent let their children kneel in front of these lesser men who tell the children it is god being placed in their mouth, then the blood. I’m no rocket scientist, but I get it! It must be an early brainwash that causes them to be so …sub-missive. They call themselves Father, the prayer says, “Our Father…lead us not into temptation..” Duh!