A Pedophile Honored by the Catholic Church?!

The Vatican said Sunday it regretted conferring a papal knighthood on Jimmy Savile in 1990, but said there was no way to revoke the honour despite revelations of child sex crimes committed by the disgraced British television star.

The Vatican is “deeply saddened that someone who has been defiled in this way could have been, in his lifetime, put forward for an honour awarded by the Holy See, which, in the light of recent information, should certainly not have been conferred,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

  Raw Story

Oh, too bad. Too bad they were “in bed with” a pedophile outside their ranks in 1990 – someone whose ass they couldn't cover.  Too harsh?  How about, too bad they don't investigate proposed honorees as intensely as they investigate supposed miracles before offering their stamp of approval?

Asked about the possible withdrawal of the honour, Lombardi said that the Vatican “strongly condemned horrible sexual abuse crimes committed against minors.”

Yes, we've noticed.

And here's the nonsensical explanation for not withdrawing his honored award:

“Given there is no permanent and official list of people who have received papal honours in the past, it is not possible to strike out anyone from a list that does not exist.”

Yeah.  I'm thinking my first characterization of the situation was not too harsh at all.

Savile's family, however, had no problem revoking any honor:

On 9 October 2012, minutes after a police press conference, relatives stated that by request of the family, the headstone of Savile's grave would be removed, the inscriptions ground away, then destroyed and sent to landfill. The family later cited their sorrow for the "anguish" of the victims and "respect [for] public opinion", and a statement by a nephew that: "We recognise that even our own despair and sadness does not compare to that felt by the victims ... How could the person we thought we knew and loved do such a thing? ... Our thoughts and our prayers are with those who have suffered from every kind of abuse over so many years and we offer our deepest sympathy in what must have been a terrible time for all of them ... We can understand their reluctance to say anything earlier and can appreciate the courage it has taken to speak out now."

  Wiki

Now, that is the kind of response that should be coming from the Vatican. (And even moreso considering it should have made that response countless times already for the heinous crimes of its priests over many centuries.)

In October 2012, almost a year after his death, an ITV documentary examining claims of sexual abuse against Savile led to broad media coverage and a substantial and rapidly growing body of witness statements and sexual abuse claims, including accusations against public bodies for covering up or failure of duty. Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by Savile over six decades, describing him as a "predatory sex offender", and later stated that they were pursuing over 400 lines of inquiry based on the testimony of 300 potential victims via fourteen police forces across the UK.

[...]

It was alleged that rumours of Savile's activities had circulated at the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, but no action had been taken.