A Patron Saint For Pedophiles

One of the most popular catholic religious leaders of modern times was Pope John Paul II. He headed the church from 1979 until his death in 2005. His popularity was such that almost immediately upon his death there were people demanding his promotion to sainthood. And the current Pope, Benedict XVI, responded by giving a special dispensation removing any time limits on the road to sainthood.

Still, a person (even a beloved pope) can't become a saint with performing some "miracles". And supposedly the dead pope has now done that. A French nun has credited John Paul II with curing her of Parkinson's Disease. That's good enough for John Paul II's beatification (a recognition by the church that he is "blessed"), and that was what happened this last weekend in front of over 1 million catholics in the Vatican. With one more miracle John Paul II can become a full-fledged saint -- and that will happen because the church wants it to happen.

But there are some who believe there is a rush to make John Paul II a saint to protect both his reputation and the reputation of the current pope. John Paul II presided over the church during a period when many hundreds (perhaps more) priests were molesting children. Instead of exposing and turning these priests over to law enforcement, as should have been done, the church just played their own version of "musical chairs" -- shifting the pedophile priests from one church to another to protect them and the reputation of the church.

This protection of the pedophile priests was directed from the Vatican (and overseen in Germany by the current pope while he was an archbishop). It is beyond believable that John Paul II did not know what was being done to protect the pedophiles (and the church) -- even though this just set up more children to be molested rather than solving any problem.

As Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society in Great Britain said, "This sprint to sainthood is to deflect examinations into JPII's unedifying record on clerical child abuse -- and, with it, Benedict's own role." Wood is right. The enormous amount of priestly child abuse could not have gone on for so long, become so widespread, and been hidden from the public so effectively without the participation of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

So a protector of pedophiles is on the way to becoming a saint in the catholic church. I guess it was bound to happen. All kinds of groups have their catholic patron saints (who intercedes on their behalf) -- Christopher (travelers), Crispin (shoemakers), Luke (doctors), Gabriel (broadcasters), Isidore (farmers), Matthew (tax collectors), Vitus (comedians), Yves (lawyers), and many more.

Since every other group has their own patron saint, I guess it is fitting that the world's pedophiles will now have their own patron saint -- someone to intercede on their behalf with the invisible sky fairy. And who could do that better than the person who protected them in this world -- John Paul II?