There are advantages to being Lutheran. For one, there is no Inquisition. For another, there is no Pope. The Roman church has had the former since 1542, the latter since St Peter was given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus himself. To protect the church from heresy, Paul III created the “Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition” in 1542, the name was changed to the “Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office” in 1908, and in 1965 it became the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”. This body reviews all published work within the church to determine if heresy is being uttered, allows publication only of such work it finds conforming to accepted doctrine, and punishes those who break their proscriptions. Apparently the zealousness of the original members of this body, and the severe penalties exacted, were sufficient to frighten theologians and priests to this day: Few have been burned at the stake in recent centuries.

But the Inquisition is very much alive and well today. Three times the church elected the head of the Congregation as pope, presumably putting the fear of fire, if not God, into the hearts of those who might be tempted by thoughts not allowed by the canon. The last time this happened was in 1605. So with the church reeling from revelations of pederast priests, and church membership waning in many countries, it sent a mixed signal when this happened a fourth time with the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Benedict XVI in 2005. If the goal was to heal the rifts in the church, and to reach out to those who were drifting away from regular worship and tithing, then the chief inquisitor probably wasn’t the best symbolic choice. On the other hand, if the highest priority was to clean house and deal with pederasts in the schools and choir lofts, to make it known to the communities where the problems existed that such affairs would no longer be countenanced, the selection was ideal.

Sadly, it turns out there was a third option, that Joseph Ratzinger sees sexual predation by parish priests as a minor indiscretion, and that in his various roles the priority was not to parade the guilty before tribunals and deal with them but to sweep the whole thing as far under the nearest rug as possible. Any terror he might inspire was limited to Catholic writers, there is no sign that the main problem will be addressed. In fact, with recent reports that at least one priest in his own archdiocese, when he was still a German bishop, it seems that the church is publicly taking the stance that Ratzinger never even knew about such things in his own domain.

If I Were King I would draw the line at public execution by fire organized by the church, but as king or commoner I would welcome better judgment and greater action than we’re seeing from Rome.