I wrote last week of my absolute disgust at the Catholic church over its tacit acceptance and even protection of paedophiles within its archaic order.  Reports have been building for decades that the church turns a blind eye to the crimes being committed by its priests, but it has only been recently that intrepid reporters and brave abuse victims have been able to name names.  not the names of the abusing priests, those were known for the most part, what wasn't known was who knew what and when within the hierarchy of the church.

I myself attended St. Michaels College at the University of Toronto, where one of the campus dons was a transferred priest for "rehabilitation," for what however, we were never sure.  Even at my old high school a priest had to be transferred and eventually put on sabbatical because of his particular penchant for young women.  In any event, my point is that transferring a bunch of paedophiles around to different places is not a solution, or even ethical from the standpoint of protecting citizens.

It should come as no surprise then that at the Easter celebrations at the Vatican had Cardinal Angelo Sodano defending the Pope against "petty gossip," praising the Pope while new reports have connected him directly to ignoring problem priests. 

I'm not sure if the church has insulated itself to outside criticism by sticking their fingers in their ears singing, "la la la la la," but its clear that they decided to double down on ignoring public pressure for accountability.  Not that the church cares about polls but the latest polls out of the United States have the Pontiff's favourable numbers down by 20 points and a new barrage of investigative journalism uncovering yet another priestly abuse scandal, this time in Arizona.  Follow that with the revelation that another priest who abused a teenage girl is still a priest in India, all with the blessing of his bishop, and you've got a problem that you have to acknowledge and take responsibility for.

Even the beloved Pope John Paul II, was found to have ignored the abuse of at least 2,000 boys when he blocked an inquiry into paedophile Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer of Austria. 

There must be accountability.  Not only for the Catholic church, but from everyday people who blindly put their trust in people or organizations based on nothing but a title or position.  Police, investigators, state attorneys, politicians, and regular people have to demand justice for victims of abuse and I think the first step would be to rescind the tax exempt status of religious organizations in general.  The Catholic church obviously doesn't feel the need to take responsibility, so I say we start treating them just like everyone else who would harbour criminals, aiding criminal acts.