A Holy Mystery

Throughout its recent sexual escapades, the Church of Rome has been commendably consistent in applying the Saviour's decree which places the onus on victims to forgive their abusers unto the seventy times seventh offence. Somehow or other this has failed to keep the sinners in line: a problem now resurrected once again in the case of an Argentine bishop who has just been sentenced to four and a half years' imprisonment for pressing unwelcome opportunities for forgiveness upon a handful of dupes. The bishop "defended himself well" to his peers in the Church; and since the allegations against him included a degree of financial creativity he was moved to a post in the Vatican treasury, presumably according to the Jesuitical reasoning that dirty hands are safe hands for whoever is keeping the handcuffs away. Nevertheless, as more and more offences are exposed in this fallen world the Church must continue its titanic and tireless struggle with the eternal moral question of how to avoid further embarrassment.