From The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State:

The historically unprecedented resignation of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope this week was compelled by an upcoming action by a European government to issue an arrest warrant against Ratzinger and a public lien against Vatican property and assets by Easter.

The ITCCS Central Office in Brussels is compelled by Pope Benedict's sudden abdication to disclose the following details:

1. On Friday, February 1, 2013, on the basis of evidence supplied by our affiliated Common Law Court of Justice (itccs.org), our Office concluded an agreement with representatives of a European nation and its courts to secure an arrest warrant against Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, for crimes against humanity and ordering a criminal conspiracy.

2. This arrest warrant was to be delivered to the office of the "Holy See" in Rome on Friday, February 15, 2013. It allowed the nation in question to detain Ratzinger as a suspect in a crime if he entered its sovereign territory.

3. A diplomatic note was issued by the said nation's government to the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, on Monday, February 4, 2013, informing Bertone of the impending arrest warrant and inviting his office to comply. No reply to this note was received from Cardinal Bertone or his office; but six days later, Pope Benedict resigned.

4. The agreement between our Tribunal and the said nation included a second provision to issue a commercial lien through that nation's courts against the property and wealth of the Roman Catholic church commencing on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. This lien was to be accompanied by a public and global "Easter Reclamation Campaign" whereby Catholic church property was to be occupied and claimed by citizens as public assets forfeited under international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

5. It is the decision of our Tribunal and the said nation's government to proceed with the arrest of Joseph Ratzinger upon his vacating the office of the Roman Pontiff on a charge of crimes against humanity and criminal conspiracy.

6. It is our further decision to proceed as well with the indictment and arrest of Joseph Ratzinger's successor as Pope on the same charges; and to enforce the commercial lien and "Easter Reclamation Campaign" against the Roman Catholic church, as planned.

In closing, our Tribunal acknowledges that Pope Benedict's complicity in criminal activities of the Vatican Bank (IOR) was compelling his eventual dismissal by the highest officials of the Vatican. But according to our sources, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone forced Joseph Ratzinger's resignation immediately, and in direct response to the diplomatic note concerning the arrest warrant that was issued to him by the said nation's government on February 4, 2013.

We call upon all citizens and governments to assist our efforts to legally and directly disestablish the Vatican, Inc. and arrest its chief officers and clergy who are complicit in crimes against humanity and the ongoing criminal conspiracy to aid and protect child torture and trafficking.

Further bulletins on the events of the Easter Reclamation Campaign will be issued by our Office this week.

Issued 13 February, 2013
12:00 am GMT
by the Brussels Central Office

http://itccs.org/2013/02/13/pope-benedict-resigned-to-avoid-arrest-seizure-of-church-wealth-by-easter/

Wow!

SMH.... SMH....

Apparently the European Union is finally willing to take action against the Vatican and its leadership on charges of criminal conspiracy for its systematic cover-ups of child molestation by its members and its protection of ped0phile priests.

The catholic church has long behaved like a criminal organisation. Its leaders have a culture of r@ping and abusing children. The church leadership then covers these abuses up by pressuring victims and their families, by attempting to discredit those who come forward, by moving the priests around to avoid prosecution, and offering cash settlements when cornered in court.

Regardless of anything else they do or did in the past, the catholic church is now essentially an international child molestation ring. They are an organised crime syndicate just like the Italian Mafia, except that the Mafia don’t r@pe children.

Prosecutors have long turned a blind eye to their crimes likely because of the church's influence in government and law enforcement, but it seem that their luck has finally run out.

For more coverage: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february122013/pope-resigns.php
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/8314813/Retired-pope-immune-from-abuse-probes

It seems that the mainstream press is deliberately turning a blind eye to this story. The news has been out for at least a few days and CNN, FOX and co are systematically ignoring it.

I guess Catholics in positions of power are still doing their best to protect mother church. Which is exactly what got them into this mess in the first place.

Day light dreaming.

Evil Brain:
Regardless of anything else they do or did in the past, the catholic church is now essentially an international child molestation ring. They are an organised crime syndicate just like the Italian Mafia, except that the Mafia don’t r@pe children.

I burst out in an evil laugh at this, people staring at me and all.

Evil Brain, I don't quite get number 2. Do you mind explaining?

Pondering.

Reyginus: Evil Brain, I don't quite get number 2. Do you mind explaining?

The ITCCS managed to convince an unnamed European country to issue an arrest warrant against the pope. The country gave the Vatican the heads up on the Feb 4 that they were planning to issue an arrest warrant on Feb 15th. Once an EU country issues an arrest warrant, all other EU members are legally obligated to arrest the subject once he enters their territory. That means that Benedict/Ratzinger would be unable to travel around Europe and carry out his duty as pope without risking arrest. It also means any EU country that hosts him will be forced to either arrest him, or break EU law.

The pope then decided or was forced to resign in order to avoid this. Resigning allows him to stay in Vatican city permanently where he is safe from prosecution.

Capisce?

This story appears to be just a conspiracy theory that is why it has not been carried by any main stream news organisation.

Aside from being the head of the Vatican, Benedict/Ratzinger has long been involved in the covering up of ped0phile scandals. As a cardinal, he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the catholic organisation that deals with such cases. In 1985, he wrote a letter asking that the "good of the universal church" be considered before sacking an American priest who had molested two boys.

A few years ago, some British activists, including Richard Dawkins, tried to get the guy arrested on his last visit to the UK. The authorities failed to do their duty then, unfortunately. Thank goodness justice is finally prevailing.

Evil Brain:

The ITCCS managed to convince an unnamed European country to issue an arrest warrant against the pope. The country gave the Vatican the heads up on the Feb 4 that they were planning to issue an arrest warrant on Feb 15th. Once an EU country issues an arrest warrant, all other EU members are legally obligated to arrest the subject once he enters their territory. That means that Benedict/Ratzinger would be unable to travel around Europe and carry out his duty as pope without risking arrest. It also means any EU country that hosts him will be forced to either arrest him, or break EU law.

The pope then decided or was forced to resign in order to avoid this. Resigning allows him to stay in Vatican city permanently where he is safe from prosecution.

Capisce?

I think this is absolute bulllshit because it DOESN'T add up. The article said church property will be confiscated and his successor prosecuted. His resignation then changes nothing.

In my humble opinion, e go hard to arrest pope o. E go hard.

Evil Brain:

The ITCCS managed to convince an unnamed European country to issue an arrest warrant against the pope. The country gave the Vatican the heads up on the Feb 4 that they were planning to issue an arrest warrant on Feb 15th. Once an EU country issues an arrest warrant, all other EU members are legally obligated to arrest the subject once he enters their territory. That means that Benedict/Ratzinger would be unable to travel around Europe and carry out his duty as pope without risking arrest. It also means any EU country that hosts him will be forced to either arrest him, or break EU law.

The pope then decided or was forced to resign in order to avoid this. Resigning allows him to stay in Vatican city permanently where he is safe from prosecution.

Capisce?

Okay. I understand now. Why am I having the feeling the story was made up. Not even al jazeera, nor Press Tv(an enemy) carried it.

Richfella:

I think this is absolute bulllshit because it DOESN'T add up. The article said church property will be confiscated and his successor prosecuted. His resignation then changes nothing.

Its easier to arrest and prosecute Benedict because before he became pope, he was the head of the organisation directly responsible for dealing with child r@pe cases. To get the next pope, they'll have to start building another case against him from scratch. Plus the church can choose a pope that has few or no direct links to the cover-ups. Changing the pope is the best move the church can make right now. It doesn't solve the problem completely, but it buys them plenty of time, and reduces the likely damage to the church.

In my humble opinion, e go hard to arrest pope o. E go hard.

All you need is a pair of handcuffs and a small jail cell. What's hard about that?

Reyginus: Okay. I understand now. Why am I having the feeling the story was made up. Not even al jazeera, nor Press Tv(an enemy) carried it.

Give them time. Big media houses would want to verify from multiple sources including the authorities planning the arrest. The problem is that its difficult to confirm that there are plans to issue a warrant until it actually happens. Plus its still possible the the church's powerful friends will still manage to stifle the process before it reaches fruition.

In any case, we already know that priests have been r@ping children, that the church has been covering it up for decades, and that pope Benedict was directly involved. There is more than enough evidence to jail him and many of the other church leaders. If any other organization did what they did, they would be rounded up just like any other group of criminals. And remember that we are talking about children being abused. Why is it so far fetched to believe that the authorities are finally waking up to their responsibility?

Benedict is the first pope in 598 years to resign. Plenty of others before him have gotten old and sick, yet they didn't resign. This is the best explanation available.

Arrest ko handcuff ni!! It is even easier to arrest him as an ex-pope than as a serving pope with full diplomatic immunity.

Seriously it is easier to arrest an american president than to arrest a pope.The news is so fake and not worthy of any attention that's why major news outlets totally ignored it.

Europe even in this 21st century still has very large catholic populations.The church is still too influential for its leader to just be arrested.Catholics forms a substantial percentage of most of this european countries and even in the US there are over 70million catholics there.

You mean to tell me that the pope can be arrested in spain,portugal,poland,italy,ireland,france and other predominantly catholic nations? It is like ahmadinejad issuing an arrest warrant on ayotollah khomeni.Do you ever forsee such a scenario!! The political and civil implications would be very devsatating

chukwudi44:
Europe even in this 21st century still has very large catholic populations.The church is still too influential for its leader to just be arrested.Catholics forms a substantial percentage of most of this european countries and even in the US there are over 70million catholics there.

You are assuming that people care more about the church than they do about protecting children from habitual ped0philes, which is far from certain.

Child molesters are a special class of criminal. People will forgive almost anything, but when it comes to grown men doing dirty things to defenseless children a kind of red mist descends in front of their eyes.

And we're not talking about one or two kids here. They've been literally thousands or cases, not including those who haven't come forward. Thousands of cases, over several decades occurring all around the world.

Are you really sure people are going to be so eager to defend a bunch of child molesters or the corrupt organisation that facilitates r@pes and protect r@pists?

I wouldn't be so confident.

I dnt totaly belive pope benedict resignd önly because of old age. There is more to it. After pope john paul was much older than him

Evil Brain:


You are assuming that people care more about the church than they do about protecting children from habitual ped0philes, which is for from certain.

Child molesters are a special class of criminal. People will forgive almost anything, but when it comes to grown men doing dirty things to defenseless children a kind of red mist descends in front of their eyes.

And were not talking about one or two here. They've been literally thousands or cases, not including those who haven't come forward. Thousands of cases, over several decades occurring all around the world.

Are you really sure people are going to be so eager to defend a bunch of child r@pists or the corrupt organisation that facilitates r@pes and protect r@pists?

I wouldn't be so confident.

You are a complete slowpoke with a truly evil brain.Did u catch pope benedict molesting any child!! Who is going to be arrested for molestations going on in the protestant churches and in other non-church institutions? Is obama going to be arrested for child molestations happening in american government scools? Why don't you make use of ur brain for once.

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.

Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.

"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.

Another consideration was that if the pope did move permanently to another country, living in seclusion in a monastery in his native Germany, for example, the location might become a place of pilgrimage.

POTENTIAL EXPOSURE

This could be complicated for the Church, particularly in the unlikely event that the next pope makes decisions that may displease conservatives, who could then go to Benedict's place of residence to pay tribute to him.

"That would be very problematic," another Vatican official said.

The final key consideration is the pope's potential exposure to legal claims over the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.

In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers withdrew the case last year and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests.

Benedict is currently not named specifically in any other case. The Vatican does not expect any more but is not ruling out the possibility.

"(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state," one source said.

Another official said: "While this was not the main consideration, it certainly is a corollary, a natural result."

After he resigns, Benedict will no longer be the sovereign monarch of the State of Vatican City, which is surrounded by Rome, but will retain Vatican citizenship and residency.

LATERAN PACTS

That would continue to provide him immunity under the provisions of the Lateran Pacts while he is in the Vatican and even if he makes jaunts into Italy as a Vatican citizen.

The 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, said Vatican City would be "invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory".

T[b]here have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

When Benedict went to Britain in 2010, British author and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins asked authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the Church's child abuse scandal.

Dawkins and the late British-American journalist Christopher Hitchens commissioned lawyers to explore ways of taking legal action against the pope. Their efforts came to nothing because the pope was a head of state and so enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

In 2011, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and three Vatican officials over sexual abuse.

The New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and another group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials committed crimes against humanity because they tolerated and enabled sex crimes.

The ICC has not taken up the case but has never said why. It generally does not comment on why it does not take up cases.
[/b]
NOT LIKE A CEO

The Vatican has consistently said that a pope cannot be held accountable for cases of abuse committed by others because priests are employees of individual dioceses around the world and not direct employees of the Vatican. It says the head of the church cannot be compared to the CEO of a company.

Victims groups have said Benedict, particularly in his previous job at the head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, turned a blind eye to the overall policies of local Churches, which moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them and handing them over to authorities.

The Vatican has denied this. The pope has apologized for abuse in the Church, has met with abuse victims on many of his trips, and ordered a major investigation into abuse in Ireland.

But groups representing some of the victims say the Pope will leave office with a stain on his legacy because he was in positions of power in the Vatican for more than three decades, first as a cardinal and then as pope, and should have done more.

The scandals began years before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005 but the issue has overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

As recently as last month, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was stripped by his successor of all public and administrative duties after a thousands of pages of files detailing abuse in the 1980s were made public.

Mahony, who was archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, has apologized for "mistakes" he made as archbishop, saying he had not been equipped to deal with the problem of sexual misconduct involving children. The pope was not named in that case.

In 2007, the Los Angeles archdiocese, which serves 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million civil settlement with more than 500 victims of child molestation, the biggest agreement of its kind in the United States.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope "gave the fight against sexual abuse a new impulse, ensuring that new rules were put in place to prevent future abuse and to listen to victims. That was a great merit of his papacy and for that we will be grateful".

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy; Edited by Simon Robinson and Giles Elgood)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-pope-resignation-immunity-idUSBRE91E0ZI20130215

Reuters is about as credible as news organisations get. Story confirmed!

Evil Brain: From Reuters:



http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-pope-resignation-immunity-idUSBRE91E0ZI20130215

Reuters is about as credible as news organisations get. Story confirmed!

This story from Reuters in no way substantiates this stupid conspiracy theory but rather makes mockery of it.

The reuters source confirmed the pope has diplomatic immunity which he would loose by virtue of his resignation.If he was trying to evade arrest you really think he will resign and give up is immunity? Does it make sense to you!!!

@evil brain

So the best way for a pope with diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution to evade arrest is to resign and give up his immunity? Do you reason @ all? Your hatred for the catholic church has beclouded your sense of reasoning!!!

You go about googling links to substantiate your fantasies and will readily jump @ any one you think is close to that without even bothering to digest the contents!!!

Evil Brain: From The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State:



http://itccs.org/2013/02/13/pope-benedict-resigned-to-avoid-arrest-seizure-of-church-wealth-by-easter/

this is a fluke, the pope esp d sitting pope is protected by international law, thus he posseses immunity, no country or group of countries can declear a sitting pope wanted.

Evil Brain: It seems that the mainstream press is deliberately turning a blind eye to this story. The news has been out for at least a few days and CNN, FOX and co are systematically ignoring it.

I guess Catholics in positions of power are still doing their best to protect mother church. Which is exactly what got them into this mess in the first place.

foxnews isnt on d story, because it isnt a story. This is a fluke, no one is ignoring anything!

Evil Brain:

The ITCCS managed to convince an unnamed European country to issue an arrest warrant against the pope. The country gave the Vatican the heads up on the Feb 4 that they were planning to issue an arrest warrant on Feb 15th. Once an EU country issues an arrest warrant, all other EU members are legally obligated to arrest the subject once he enters their territory. That means that Benedict/Ratzinger would be unable to travel around Europe and carry out his duty as pope without risking arrest. It also means any EU country that hosts him will be forced to either arrest him, or break EU law.

The pope then decided or was forced to resign in order to avoid this. Resigning allows him to stay in Vatican city permanently where he is safe from prosecution.

Capisce?

actually this is a stupid story! Remaining pope would actually protect him from all prosecution, no country can arrest him without violating international law. So my dear, ur story is highly flawed.

Ubenedictus: this is a fluke, the pope esp d sitting pope is protected by international law, thus he posseses immunity, no country or group of countries can declear a sitting pope wanted.

Your argument holds no water. The pope abdicated apparently because he did not want the arrest warrant ISSUED in the first place. The scandal and media interest an arrest warrant would have generated was unthinkable. His immunity does not stop an arrest warrant from being issued against him. But it can stop the warrant from being executed.

Evil Brain: Aside from being the head of the Vatican, Benedict/Ratzinger has long been involved in the covering up of ped0phile scandals. As a cardinal, he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the catholic organisation that deals with such cases. In 1985, he wrote a letter asking that the "good of the universal church" be considered before sacking an American priest who had molested two boys.

A few years ago, some British activists, including Richard Dawkins, tried to get the guy arrested on his last visit to the UK. The authorities failed to do their duty then, unfortunately. Thank goodness justice is finally prevailing.

dawkins cant make d police arrect ben becos benedict is immune from persecution. This is a conspiracy theory. And actually no one can prove razinger covered anything up.

chukwudi44: @evil brain

So the best way for a pope with diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution to evade arrest is to resign and give up his immunity? Do you reason @ all? Your hatred for the catholic church has beclouded your sense of reasoning!!!

You go about googling links to substantiate your fantasies and will readily jump @ any one you think is close to that without even bothering to digest the contents!!!

The purpose of the resignation is to protect the church, not the pope. When Benedict is no longer pope, it'll be harder to go after the church's property. Plus with a new pope,prosecutors will have to build a new case from scratch if they want to nail the big fish. And the church can protect itself by picking a pope that has fewer ties to the scandal.

Benedict doesn't need any protection. As long as he stays within Vatican city, nobody can arrest him.

Reyginus: Okay. I understand now. Why am I having the feeling the story was made up. Not even al jazeera, nor Press Tv(an enemy) carried it.

it was heavyly made up.

Ubenedictus: dawkins cant make d police arrect ben becos benedict is immune from persecution. This is a conspiracy theory. And actually no one can prove razinger covered anything up.

Not every state recognizes the Vatican's statehood. It's not recognized by the UN for one, so his diplomatic immunity is suspect.