Pope Francis Is Flexing His Muscles

God works in mysterious ways. We have all heard that truism. Well, dear readers, it appears that Pope Francis may be taking lessons at the Maker's knee. Pope Francis, with no prior hint of any sort, acted to end years of scandals damaging the Catholic Church, by overhauling Vatican law on Thursday to specify sexual violence against children as a crime and impose tough penalties for staff who leak confidential Vatican information. The new kaws were issued as "Motu Proprio", meaning by a decree of his own initiative. Francis also said he would renew the Holy See's commitment to international conventions, particularly the Geneva Conventions, against organized crime, international money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism. Under the Pope's changes, sexual violence and sexual acts with children, child prostitution and child pornography are cited in a broader definition of crimes against minors, made punishable by up to 12 years in prison, according to Vatican documents. Francis, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI in March, inherited a Church struggling to restore credibility after a spate of scandals, including the sexual abuse of children by priests in a number of countries and an investigation into suspected money-laundering at the Vatican's bank. The legal changes apply only within the Vatican City State but are meant to demonstrate that Francis is taking the various scandals seriously and will align Church policy with international legal standards. The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests(SNAP) was unimpressed, saying his initiative might improve the Vatican's image but "in the real world this changes virtually nothing (as it affects only) the 0.2 square miles of Vatican property." SNAP urged the Church hierarchy to focus instead on having its personnel abide by long-established secular laws on sexual abuse and rooting out bishops who failed to protect children. The Vatican was also shaken last year by the theft and leaking to the media of personal papal papers by Benedict's butler, who was convicted and later pardoned by Benedict after being jailed. Before abdicating in February, Benedict left Francis a top-secret report about leaks of the internal documents that alleged corruption, mismanagement and infighting in the Vatican administration. Francis's decree includes stricter rules governing the disclosure of secret information or documents and sets out a punishment of up to eight years in prison if they concern the "fundamental interests" of the Holy See, or Church government. All these changes are meant to update the Vatican City State's penal system, based on Italian penal codes from 1889 and 1913, to make them relevant to modern criminal activities. In June Francis set up a special commission of inquiry to reform the Vatican's bank, seeking to bring the bank under stricter control. The group held its first meeting on Thursday with the Pope attending, according to the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano. ~~~~~ And on a lighter note, Pope Francis was clearly not impressed with a lifesize statue of him that had been placed in the Buenos Aires cathedral garden and was attracting many visitors. The Holy Father called the new archbishop and is quoted as telling him : "Get that thing out of there immediately." Go Get 'Em, Pope Francis!