Could they arrest the pope?

[Ripeberry]

Well could they? , would it not cause a HUGE diplomatic incident?

I don't know, but I hope so.

I wish they'd arrest the whole blooming Vatican, personally. Except the bloke who was in Bill Maher's Religulous film. He was ace.

I wish they could.

i am praying that they will

Well, I think the real point is to try to stop the visit (or at least not have UK taxpayers pay for it). Or to prompt some proper atonement and full openness.

If the legal case is sound (and I have no reason to doubt Geoffrey Robinsons expertise on this) then they (the police I assume) can and should arrest the Pope.

It's been done before apparently with a former head of state of some country. So yes they could, but they won't.

Think he would have to leave the Vatican to be arrested as it is it's own little country within a country - they have their own police force there who wouldn't dare to arrest him.

Think people are starting to actually get rather annoyed at what is going on finally - even the Italian daily newspaper had headlines against him - well saying they were cross at him keeping schtum about the abuse over the easter period.

Pity though, the mental image of the Pope being arrested by the Swiss Guard is quite something.

Also, I think compared to John Paul, he is quite creepy looking in some photos

Not sure what his looks have to do with it... from what I've read, the pleasantly-smiling John Paul II was even more guilty in the cover up.

Yeah having the swiss guard arrest him would be something to see, but I'll settle for him being arrested when he steps off the plane for his visit. Even if only taken away for questioning for an hour to make the point.

Why IS he coming here anyway? to teach us heathens about morals?

Does this pope do that soil-kissing thing that JP2 used to do?

Because if so, maybe the victims of the abuse should be allowed onto the tarmac to meet the plane and he should stay down on the ground till he's apologised properly to every one of them.

Yes, I wouldn't mind being part of the Reception committee when he touches down here - me and the thousands of others whose chilhoods were destroyed by his minions.

Does he need to have committed a crime or is is the proposed arrest because of the double failing in english eyes of being a Catholic and German?

Are Richard Dawkins and Cristopher Hitchens still planning a citizen's arrest?

I really hope they DO arrest him.
The entire Catholic Church need a good clip around the ears.

zanzibarmum, I only make that one crime. Nothing wrong with Germans.

zanzibarmum - anyone who thinks this has anything to do with him being German really is clutching at straws I'm afraid

Do you really think so? So what specifically is the charge?

Well for me writing a letter in his previous job in the church ordering that abuse be kept quiet would be sufficient.

But he has been more specifically involved in covering up the actions of an abusive priest. As far as I can see they don't really deny these coverups happened, but they say things like "oh there was no need to report it as he was old anyway and we gave him a good telling off"

Oh and even now the German Justice Dept is furious with the church because at the popes instructions they are withholding vital information the Germans need to stop abuse and prosecute the abusers.

The church is still helping them get away with it.

That charge won't stand up. The abusive priest in USA I think you are referring to was never charged by the civil authorities for the crimes he admitted he had committed 20 years or so previously. The refusal of the Vatican to defrock the said priest months before his death may have been unwise but is not to my knowledge a crime in law.

The document you are referring to never stopped the reporting of crimes to the civil authorities - indeed that is what happened in UK and elsewhere after the said document was drafted.

Newsweek had a good and balanced piece on this recently. Worth checking out its website.

Zanzibarmum - I'm genuinely puzzled as to why you think this whole issue has anything to do with him being German though?

(As in, rather than it being about the Catholic church's systematic cover up of child abuse?)

The question is about arresting the Pope. As people here have said being a Catholic per se makes him guilty in some people's eyes. In the absence of a specific charge against Benedict - and much mendacious reporting eg from the Times - I wonder whether the German thing may be part of it. (As someone has said the previous Polish pope may have been slower to act on these issues). If the current Pope has committed a crime he should be charged and tried - hence my question what's the charge.

As we are charging heads of state here is my list, inc ex heads of state:

-tony blair and george - illegal war costing 100k plus lives

• Robert Mugabe - crimes against humanity

• Li Peng - suppression of human rights

• burma generals - crimes against humanity