Salon.com > Victor L. Simpson

Knox case means more scrutiny for Italian justice system

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:21:00 +0000

ROME (AP) — When crooked American financier Bernie Madoff was sentenced in New York, the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published a front-page cartoon mocking Italy's trial system.

On one side was a U.S. courtroom, where a judge was handing down a 150-year sentence after a six-month trial. On the other, an Italian courtroom with a judge handing down a six-month sentence after a 150-year trial.

That's how the country's No. 1 newspaper summed up Italy's slow-moving, and at times inconclusive, justice system.

The decision by Italy's highest criminal appeals court to overturn the acquittals of American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, and order a new trial in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, is once again raising concerns both at home and abroad about how justice works in Italy.

It's a system where people cleared of serious crimes can have the threat of prison hanging over them for years, while powerful politicians such as former premier Silvio Berlusconi can avoid jail sentences almost indefinitely by filing appeal after appeal until the statute of limitations runs out.

Papal conclave goes to heart of Catholic mystery

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:02:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The papal conclave is steeped in mystery — and the church likes it that way. Elaborate ritual and veils of secrecy, after all, are fundamental to the papal mystique, seen as the glue the binds worshipers in faith.

But in this conclave, the church appears to be making some concessions to the instant clarity expected in the Internet era: Just look at the thick plumes of black smoke that poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday and Wednesday to tell the world that the votes had not yielded a winner.

It was a big contrast to conclaves past in which confusion has reigned over the smoke color, with pilgrims in St. Peter's Square screaming: "It's white! ... no, no ... it's black!!"

The smoke ritual itself dates back more than a century. And, regardless of questions of color, the Vatican has no intention of changing the tradition now — saying the uncertainty is part of the beauty of the process.

"A little suspense is good for all of us," said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi. "Don't expect Swiss-watch precision."

Vatican praises EU decision on crucifixes in class

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:24:00 +0000

Crucifixes in public school classrooms do not violate a student's freedom of conscience, a European high court ruled Friday in a verdict welcomed by the Vatican in its campaign to remind the continent of its Christian roots.

The case was brought by a Finnish-born woman living in Italy who objected to the crucifixes in her children's classrooms, arguing they violated the secular principles public schools are supposed to uphold. The debate divided Europe's traditional Catholic and Orthodox countries and their more secular neighbors that observe a strict separation between church and state.

Initially, the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of Human Rights sided with the mother. Italy appealed, supported by more than a dozen countries including the late Pope John Paul II's predominantly Catholic Poland, and won.

Friday's reversal has implications in 47 countries, opening the way for Europeans who want religious symbols in classrooms to petition their governments to allow them.

It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect France, a traditionally Catholic country with a strictly secular state that does not allow crucifixes or other religious symbols in public schools, including the Muslim headscarf.

Pope wants to start debate on condoms and AIDS

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI sought to "kick-start a debate" when he said some condom use may be justified, Vatican insiders say, raising hopes the church may be starting to back away from a complete ban that would allow condoms to play a role in the battle against AIDS.

Just a year after he said condoms could be making the AIDS crisis worse, Benedict said that for some people, such as male prostitutes, using them could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility because the intent is to "reduce the risk of infection."

The pope did not suggest using condoms as birth control, which is banned by the church, or mention the use of condoms by married couples where one partner is infected.

Still, some saw the pope's comments as an attempt to move the church forward on the issue of condoms and health risks.

For years divisions in the Vatican have held up any effort to reconcile the church's ban on contraception with the need to help halt the spread of AIDS. Theologians have studied the possibility of condoning limited condom use as a lesser evil, and reports years ago said the Vatican was considering a document on the issue, though opposition apparently blocked publication.

Prosecutors: Vatican bank defying laundering laws

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:31:00 +0000

Italian prosecutors contest claims by the Vatican bank that it is trying to comply with international rules to fight money laundering, saying an investigation that led to the seizure of euro23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account shows "exactly the opposite," according to a court document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

An Italian court on Wednesday rejected a Vatican request to lift the seizure, leading the Vatican to express "astonishment" at the court's ruling and indicating the case will not be cleared up quickly, as the Vatican originally predicted.

Since the money was ordered seized last month, the Vatican and the bank's chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, have repeatedly said the allegations resulted from a "misunderstanding" and that the Vatican bank -- officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion -- has been working to comply with international rules to fight money-laundering.

The strongly worded document from the prosecutors' office said that while there is a "generic and stated will" to conform by the bank "there is no sign that the institutions of the Catholic church are moving in that direction."

It said the prosecutor's investigation had found "exactly the opposite."

Vatican: Homer Simpson is Catholic

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:32:08 +0000

The Vatican newspaper has declared that Homer Simpson is part of the pope's flock -- a claim that leaves "The Simpsons" TV producer baffled.

"Few people know it and he does everything to hide it but it is true: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic," L'Osservatore Romano wrote in its weekend edition under the headline: "Homer and Bart are Catholic."

Last December, the newspaper praised the show on its 20th anniversary for its philosophical leanings and irreverent take on religion.

The weekend story was the latest example of the Vatican paper's efforts to be more relevant in the last few years, and follows stories not only lauding Harry Potter but even praising the Beatles and waxing philosophical about John Lennon's boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.

The paper quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, the Rev. Francesco Occhetta, discussing Homer's and his son Bart's conversion in a 2005 episode after meeting with a sympathetic priest, Father Sean, voiced by actor Liam Neeson.

L'Osservatore says the analysis shows that behind the TV program's jokes are themes "linked to the sense and quality of life."

Pope may meet with abuse victims in Malta

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:58:00 +0000

In a key test, Pope Benedict XVI makes his first foreign trip since the clerical sex abuse scandal erupted when he visits heavily Catholic Malta this weekend -- and all eyes will be on whether he meets abuse victims as he has said he is prepared to do.

The two-day trip was planned as a pilgrimage among the faithful to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck, but it has since raised expectations that the pope would make a strong gesture to repair the damage of worldwide abuse scandal.

Ten men who testified that they were sexually molested by priests at an orphanage on the Mediterranean island of 400,000 people during the 1980s and 1990s have asked to meet with Benedict so what they call a "hurtful chapter" in their lives can be closed.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, briefing reporters on the trip this week, declined to confirm the pope would meet with victims on this trip but didn't rule it out.

Benedict's previous meetings with abuse victims during trips to the United States and Australia in 2008 were not announced in advance. Such an encounter must be "in a climate of meditation and reflection, not under media pressure," Lombardi said.

Vatican lashes out against sex abuse coverage

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:05:00 +0000

Cardinals rushed to Pope Benedict XVI's defense on Holy Thursday amid accusations he played a role in covering up sex abuse scandals, as an increasingly angry Vatican made a stinging attack on the U.S. media for its coverage.

The mood between the church and the media has become increasingly bitter as the scandal buffeting the 1 billion-member church has touched the pontiff himself. On Wednesday, the church singled out the New York Times for criticism in an unusually harsh attack.

Western news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported extensively on the burgeoning scandal, and new revelations have emerged on an almost daily basis.

Venice's Cardinal Angelo Scola expressed solidarity with Benedict in his Holy Thursday homily in the lagoon city, describing him as a victim of "deceitful accusations." He praised the pope as seeking to remove all "dirt" from the priesthood.

Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz said the church should take notice of individual tragedies and treat sex abuse cases very seriously, but at the same time he criticized the media for "targeting the whole church, targeting the pope, and to that we must say 'no' in the name of truth and in the name of justice."