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Benedict XVI due to stay at Buckingham Palace as atheists plan swoop over child abuse scandal
THE QUEEN and the next Prime Minister are set to be thrust centre stage in the attempt to arrest the Pope, when Benedict XVI visits London in September.
Leading atheist campaigners Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens want to collar the Pontiff for his alleged cover-up of child abuse in the Catholic Church.
But they might have to get past Her Majesty and the government first, triggering a major political and constitutional crisis.
As the head of the Church of England, the Queen is due to hold talks with the Pope, who is likely to stay at Buckingham Palace during his four-day visit.
Benedict XVI is also to address both Houses of Parliament.
Those events bear the hallmarks of an official visit by a state leader, a status which would give the Pope immunity from arrest, but lawyers for Dawkins and Hitchens reckon the Vatican isn't a proper country.
"I believe an English court would reject it," said Mark Stephens, one of Dawkins' and Hitchens' lawyers.
"The Vatican is not actually a state in international law. It is not recognised by the UN, it does not have borders that are policed and its relations are not of a full diplomatic nature."
The Pope has come under pressure in recent weeks after the disclosure of a letter in which he appeared to sanction the cover up of child abuse by an American priest.
"This man is not above or outside the law," said Dawkins.
"The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment."
John 19:15
“Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
History repeats!
Commonsense is not so common in Europe; it has become a rare sense!
LOL @ The excuses for Child Rape under this article!
Disgusting.
Do some of your own reading and research.
May the Pope get that which is coming to him if he was complicit.
Now, is the outrage and call for arrest really coming from the very same Richard Dawkins who argues that some are merely "gentle pedophiles" and that too much is made of some cases of pedophilia???
Mr Dawkins: "The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment."
Yeah- Just like roman polanski. A man who ACTUALLY RAPES A CHILD is let off the hook. Why? Because he thinks like you do.
Although I really do not believe that the Queen will allow the pope to be arrested in her country, I do give these men kudos for having the guts to even broach the possibility. It shows that the popes will never again enjoy the lives of living on a pedestal that is at God's right hand. Finally, they have been relegated to the position of frail, sinful human beings.
I cannot believe anyone is taking these two bozos seriously!
(I mean Dawkins and Hitchens, not the Queen and PM!)
Jesus was arrested.