Melder's Musings

Pope Benedict XVI meets First Lady Laura Bush at Andrews Air Force Base. (Getty Images photo from CNN.com)

A bit of history was made in the nation's capital today. For the first time ever, at least according to CNN, the President and First Lady traveled to Andrews Air Force Base to greet a foreign dignitary arriving in Washington. Normally, such a formal meeting is held at the White House. Watching it all play out on television this afternoon made my stomach turn. As you read the rest of this post, what went on today should make yours turn, too.

Today's history-making handshake was reserved for Pope Benedict XVI. He's beginning a six-day visit to the United States. It's his first visit to the country since his election to the Papacy.

On the flight to Washington, the Pope made news by proclaiming that he is "deeply ashamed" of his fellow priests' penchant for molesting children. Unfortunately, none of those same reporters, at least as far as anyone knows, had the gall to ask him about his role in keeping that molestation quiet.

The man who, as Pope, is so "deeply ashamed" of all the sexual abuse that went on within the Catholic Church is the same man who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wrote a letter to Catholic officials telling them to send all information about abuse cases to the head office in Rome. That letter, according to the British newspaper that obtained a copy, "asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood." Such a lengthy stonewalling by the church will cause statues of limitations to run out on many potential criminal prosecutions here in the States.

With his holy order hindering criminal proceedings against the reverent rapists, the Ratzinger letter has been the basis of some civil court action Stateside. Meanwhile, the media have largely failed to notice as victims pressed for the Pope to face an indictment.

In the long and short of it, the Cardinal-turned-Pope used his official power to direct that evidence of sexual abuse be boxed up. Couple this with the fact that young Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the "Hitler Youth" and you've got some awfully strange qualifications for such a historic meeting.

Unfortunately, the same sheepish press core that won't ask the Pope how he can claim to be "deeply ashamed" of a scandal he tried to keep from being brought to light is the same that won't ask President Bush why a former Nazi who worked to protect pedophiles deserves a history-making official welcome. I would love to see his reaction if they did, but that's an experience none of us will ever get to enjoy.

Assuming that the press ever did ask such a question, and assuming that President Bush did actually try to answer it, we could almost certainly expect the same kind of multiple denials that conservatives are already parroting.

Thankfully, there is at least one major media outlet probing why nearly a score of accused pedophile priests have yet to be sanctioned by the church. Hopefully, more reporters will ask more tough questions as the week goes on.