Well, if you want to hear what one of the world's most eloquent, intellectual people has to say on this matter (and Geoffrey Robertson QC is one of the world's leading human rights supporters), then have a read of the intro to The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse and then download the 35MB mp3 of the 76 minute lecture from here.
This is the overview of the lecture on the download page:
The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights AbuseSpeaker: Geoffrey Robertson
Chair: Dr Chaloka Beyani
This event was recorded on 8 September 2010 in Sheikh Zayed Theatre,
New Academic Building
The Case of the Pope delivers a devastating indictment of the way the Vatican has run a secret legal system that has shielded paedophile priests from criminal trial around the world. Is the Pope morally responsible or legally liable under domestic or international law for the negligence that has allowed so many terrible crimes to go unpunished? Should he and his seat of power, the Holy See, continue to enjoy an immunity that places them above the law? To what extent do Vatican dogmas conflict with human rights treatise, and why has the United Nations allowed this church – alone of religions and NGOs – a privileged platform to promote them? Geoffrey Robertson QC demonstrates a deep respect for the good works of Catholics and their church. But, he argues, unless Pope Benedict XVI can divest himself of the beguilements of statehood and devotion to obsolete canon law, the Vatican will remain in grave breach of the convention on the Right of the Child and in some other respects, an enemy of human rights. This event marks the publication of Geoffrey Robertson's new book The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse.
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