WikiLeaks And The Separation Of Church And State

The WikiLeak documents have demonstrated the dual nature of secrecy in government policy making decisions and actions.  There should be no question that these leaks support the concept that there are areas of national security that do require secrecy.  The leaks also demonstrated, quite conclusively, that the power to label secret has been abused to the detriment of the public.

I see no reason why documents pertaining to the Vatican’s response to Ireland’s investigation of priests and Roman Catholic church officials with respect tot he abuse of children should be labeled secret.  There is no area of national security that would be compromised by having this information made public.  Apparently, recently released U.S. diplomatic cables indicate that the Vatican (Pope and the Curia) was “offended” that the Irish government failed to respect the “sovereignty” of the Vatican by requiring high-ranking clergy to answer questions from and Irish Commission that was investigating decades of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy.

I do not deny that for the longest time, I considered the Roman Catholic Church to be one of the world’s most evil institutions.

The WikiLeaks documents just adds another layer of evidence of covering up of Church officials who engaged in obscene behavior and committed heinous crimes against children.  From my perspective these documents give lie to the denial by Irish tour guides of any sex-related scandal in the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland as reported about the Church in the U.S.A.

The Irish government  and the independent Commission were in a bind.  The Vatican is not just any city-state, it is city-state which is also the head of one of the major religions of the world.  Thus, as a religious institution, the Vatican should not be permitted to draw upon its right to sovereignty as a city-state to hide criminal acts of its officials with respect to their religious obligations.  As a religious body, it should be subservient to the laws of the states in which its religion is practiced.  The Roman Catholic Church, through the Vatican, as much as it desires, should not be entitled to any right greater than that afforded any other religion.

In Verdi’s opera, Don Carlos, there is one scene in which the state bows before the church.  That was in the 16th century.  Today we are in the 21st century and we still find a state that bows before the church.

And, for several decades in the U.S., despite the first amendment and the concept of separation of church and state, we see the Conservatives creating a situation where the state is bowing before the church (not necessarily the Roman Church, but the concept of Church in general).

We never seem to learn our lesson.

In the Leaked papers there is a comment by the U.S. ambassador to the Pope indicating that he also condemned the leaks and said the Vatican and America cooperate in promoting universal values.

What universal values is the United States of America cooperating with the Vatican in promoting?

I was not aware the the US government was involved in promoting the sodomizing of children nor was I aware that the US government is promoting such behavior as a universal value.

Apparently from the leaked documents we learn that the letters sent by the Irish investigators “offended many in the Vatican” because they were viewed as “an affront to Vatican sovereignty.”"

According to the Roman Catholic Church, Vatican Sovereignty is more important than investigating crimes against children by church officials – men who claim to be holy, to be role models, and men who want special privileges in life because they claim that they preach the word of god.  Throughout my adult life, I have read and re-read, on more than one occasion, the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and never saw any passage that glorified sodomy nor have I ever read that sodomy is a universal value.

Have I missed something?

The time has come to stop treating the Vatican as a city-state and treat it for what it is: a super wealthy organization designed to steal money from people under false pretenses, maintain its high officials in a lavish life style while keeping people ignorant, superstitious, emotionally dependent, and designed to create an atmosphere whereby it could perpetuate its evil dogmas.  The time has come to disregard the Vatican and everything it stands for.