Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Timesonline.co.uk

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7094310.ece

[spiritual_gunfighter]

1. I hope they do it.

He belongs behind bars.

[GodlessBiker]

7. +100

[Richd506]

2. Boy I want to see that!

Richard Dawkins' my man!

[IndianaGreen]

3. Perhaps the Pope will cancel his UK trip

which in itself would be a very good thing.

[wtmusic]

4. How ironic.

A good, universal church would celebrate defrocking a priest who has gone astray.

[madrchsod]

5. dawkins won`t arrest him but...

maybe there will be a big protest against him...



it really is a shame they can`t arrest him.

[Proletariatprincess]

6. I love this story.

Yes! Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are formidable adversaries of the Church. El Popo should be concerned. These brilliant men will not be intimidated or persuaded by those who claim that the church does more good than bad....they know better.
That being said, I don't think they will succeed. However, I would be thrilled to know that the Vatican had to hold yard sales to help compensate for the terrible deeds and abuses it has commited over the centuries.

[rhett o rick]

8. Sounds fun but kinda like smake a mole. Arrest one and another will take his place. nm

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. PR stunt and nothing more, as has been pointed out on other threads on this here on DU

[sakabatou]

10. And the Times lies again.

Needless to say, I did NOT say "I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI" or anything so personally grandiloquent. You have to remember that The Sunday Times is a Murdoch newspaper, and that all newspapers follow the odd custom of entrusting headlines to a sub-editor, not the author of the article itself.

What I DID say to Marc Horne when he telephoned me out of the blue, and I repeat it here, is that I am whole-heartedly behind the initiative by Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens to mount a legal challenge to the Pope's proposed visit to Britain. Beyond that, I declined to comment to Marc Horne, other than to refer him to my 'Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope' article here: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5341

Here is what really happened. Christopher Hitchens first proposed the legal challenge idea to me on March 14th. I responded enthusiastically, and suggested the name of a high profile human rights lawyer whom I know. I had lost her address, however, and set about tracking her down. Meanwhile, Christopher made the brilliant suggestion of Geoffrey Robertson. He approached him, and Mr Robertson's subsequent 'Put the Pope in the Dock' article in The Guardian shows him to be ideal...