How Can You Tell When the Pope is Lying? His Mouth is Moving

In today's New York Times, the truth about Pope Benedict XVI's Prada-shod footdragging is exposed.

Did you know that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was given authority in 1922 to handle sexual abuse cases? Yup, back in the Roaring Twenties.

And for the twenty years that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope, was in charge of that office he did absolutely nothing to investigate allegations of priestly pedophilia and a host of other sexual transgressions. Had he acted quickly and decisively the current situation would not have reached its present proportions.

Bishops from around the globe met with the Vatican in 2000 to urge them to address the sexual abuse problem and finally, in 2001, Ratzinger's department was given the authority to cut through the red tape and handle cases directly. Yet still he did virtually nothing and it was all just a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Cardinal Ratzinger, while he was Pope John Paul II's flunkie, did his absolute best to prevent the Catholic Church from moving forward in any realistic way and now, as Pope Benedict XVI, he is doing the same despite a lot of meaningless rhetoric.