Sunday, May 06, 2007
The Vatican blows
Unfortunately, HotLawyer hasn't passed the bar in Vatican City to represent this dude, although I'm certain he would have provided the accused cokehead with a vigorous defense, at least if the defendant's grandma could cough up his retainer. I was more curious about the sentence the man received being "suspended." If it hadn't been suspended, where exactly would they have incarcerated him? I doubt the Vatican has modern penal facilities, so presumably they'd have to dust off some old Inquisition-era rack-stretching or Iron Maiden storage room or something. I was unaware that the Vatican even had an operating legal system (besides an army of attorneys needed to cover up charges of pedophilia, anyways). Do they just have some dude sitting around in a robe and powdered wig waiting for the once-a-decade possession charge to come before his bench or is his docket full of various criminals answering for their misdeeds at the Holy See? Also, how is using cocaine immoral or against the religion. I never read in my catechism that blowing lines off my office desk is sinful. I suppose an argument could be made that it's unhealthy, as it causes heart problems and fucks with your brain, but that would apply similarly to Benedixteen's entire papacy.VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for cocaine use, Italian news reports said Sunday.
The man worked in a Holy See administrative office and was recently fired because an Italian criminal court had convicted him of other offenses outside the Vatican, according to La Repubblica, the Rome daily. The Vatican tribunal convicted him of possessing cocaine, which was found in a drawer in the room where he worked, La Repubblica said.
The report did not give details, including the man's name.
La Repubblica quoted a Vatican judge, Gianluigi Marrone, as saying that the Vatican's legal code does not address illegal narcotics. Instead, the judges relied on international anti-drug conventions to which the Holy See is a signatory, Marrone was quoted as saying.
Another basis for the tribunal's decision was a 1929 Vatican law which allows verdicts in cases not covered specifically by its laws but which involve injury to "health, morality and religion," La Repubblica quoted the judge as saying.
Messages seeking comment from the Vatican's judges were not immediately returned. The judges are lawyers and laymen who serve on the Vatican panel.
This is lame. Who cares if some pathetic file clerk needs a bump or two to get through his day shredding allegations of sexual abuse against various priests worldwide? As usual, Benedixteen's policies prove to be a major buzzkill.
Labels: Catholicism, crime and punishment, drugs, HotLawyer, international intrigue, Pope Benedixteen
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