The worlds worst PR firm

As one commentator noted this morning, in the wake of yesterday's comparison with the Jews, if the Vatican had hired the best PR firm in the world to design the worst possible PR campaign, they couldn't have done as well as the Vatican itself seems to be doing. One can only speculate that the Vatican hierarchy is so far removed from real life and so insulated and isolated from public opinion that they have no idea how badly their efforts look to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, I see that Germany opened a telephone hot line for such abuse cases yesterday or the day before, and had to close it at the end of the first day when over 4000 calls absolutely swamped the system. A friend of mine who should know (she was once a nun herself) tells me that what has come out so far is just the tip of the iceberg, and that the abuse of trust goes far beyond young children.

Perhaps the Vatican will finally realize that it has to come clean and dispense real justice. (As the British used to say, justice must not only be done, it must be SEEN to be done). If not, the Catholic Church, already losing members and clergy at an alarming rate, will continue to bleed supporters.