Today, a “top Vatican legal official” said that Pope Benedict cannot be called upon to testify at any court proceedings regarding his role/responsibility in the Catholic sexual-abuse scandal “because he has immunity as a head of state,” and therefore has immunity from the proceedings of foreign nations’ court systems.

See, so many nations deal with the Vatican as if it were a sovereign state that the Pope is sort of seen/treated as the sovereign head of an actual nation.

Which is bullshit, particularly with regard to the United States, a country whose own laws call for a distinct separation of church and state. Of course, we tend to employ and ignore that particular element of our national character willy-nilly depending upon belief and context. And that’s exactly the point. Forget arguing over prayer in schools and whether or not the phrase “one nation under God” belongs in the pledge of allegiance. If there was ever one time folks on either side of the church-and-state issue–Catholics included–should join forces to arbitrarily enforce a separation between the two, this is it. Let’s all agree that the Pope can’t be a religious leader and a political one, at least here in the U.S., sit him down in a witness box on American soil, and find out exactly how much he knew about priests molesting the children they were entrusted to mentor.