As Pope Benedict XVI begins his trip to the UK, this week’s New Statesman looks at the troubled state of Catholicism. Geoffrey Robertson, QC, who has called for the arrest of the pontiff, attacks the Foreign Office over its refusal to challenge the Vatican’s dubious statehood.
And, in a review of Robertson’s new book, The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse, John Cornwell says the Church urgently needs to uncover the roots of the padeophile priest scandal that has made a mockery of its claim to moral authority.
But elsewhere in this week’s NS Interview, the historian and journalist Paul Johnson tells Jonathan Derbyshire that the abuse scandal has been “greatly exaggerated” and insists that it will “blow over”.
Also this week, John Pilger asks if sport can be rescued from corporate dominance, Mehdi Hasan look at how a late surge of support for Ed Miliband has left his brother rattled, and Laurie Penny explains why she’s proud to say nope to the Pope.
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