Is the Vatican a Rogue State?
`The Vatican’s attorney general Nicola Picardi released the astounding statistic at the start of 2007: The tiny nation’s justice department in 2006 had to contend with 341 civil and 486 criminal cases. In a population of 492, that measures out to 1.5 cases per person — twenty times the corresponding rate in Italy.
[..] About 90 percent of these crimes go unpunished, which is not a measure of Christian mercy but a sign of the perpetrators’ favorite method of escape. They can break for the border — a few meters away — to Italy. [..]
Pope Benedict XVI recommended another strategy in a speech to Vatican security personnel. “Let us pray,” he said, “for the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.” [..]’
