Richard Dawkins: "I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI"

[Deep Sea Isopod]

What would be the "fall out" of a western gorvernment arresting the pope?

[kiore]

He hasn't been to Britain since his arrest warrant was issued. The only two countries he's visited since has been Egypt and Qatar both of which refused to arrest him and hand him over to the ICC, however neither of those countries have ratified the Rome Statute treaty, unlike the UK.

If he was ballsy enough to show up in the UK, would he actually be arrested?

Oh yes, but in order to avoid this he would not be allowed to visit, even Turkey found an excuse not to invite him for this reason.. Should he cease to be president he would be fair game almost anywhere, one of the reasons he's suddenly become a democracy supporter.
As for Papa Benoir, I can't see any nation being very interested in this little stunt.

[Chinaski]

Switzerland arrested Ghedaffi's son, despite diplomatic immunity, and we all know how that went down.

[The Red Fox]

Save a choir boy: Nuke the Vatican

[Animavore]

You can all relax. Apparently this has nothing to do with Dawkins at all. Just some Rupert Murdoch spin.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010 ... _paper.php

[klr]

Meh, "diplomatic immunity" will be invoked. He's technically head of the Vatican State, so this will fall flat on its face. I thought the Dawk would know better. Or is this just grandstanding?

What's that line from Lethal Weapon 2 about diplomatic immunity?

[Animavore]

"It's just bee revoked".

[JimC]

Meh, "diplomatic immunity" will be invoked. He's technically head of the Vatican State, so this will fall flat on its face. I thought the Dawk would know better. Or is this just grandstanding?

Vatican City is technically a country and who else would be the head of state?


Is it not recognized by the UN as a country?

How many divisions does the Vatican have?

(JimC channels Stalin...)

[Goldenmane]

Vatican City is not recognised as a state by the UN. Nor, following from that, is the Pope recognised as a Head of State by the UN (do you think Geoffrey Robertson would be pursuing the course he is if this was the case? If you do, then stop being stupid.) The ICC, then, also doesn't and will not (cannot) recognice Ratzi as a Head of State and immune from prosecution.

Robertson possesses and uses one of the finest legal minds on the planet when it comes to international human rights law. He wouldn't make such a fucking amateur error if he was falling-down drunk, covered in ferociously hungry meat-ant/hooker hybrids, and receiving a fly-agaric enema.

ETA: One of the reasons people think the bastards qualify as a State is because the bastards keep claiming that they are a State, and GW Bushtard fucking fell for it, granting (by executive order, IIRC) Ratzi Immunity from Prosecution under the misapprehension that Ratzi qualifies as a Head of State - this in response to a legal bid launched in the US to take the Ratburger to court over involvement in or responsibility for (or something regarding) child sex abuse in the Catholic Kidfucker League.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Well that settles it. If the ICC won't recognise him, he's out of the cricket world cup. Good riddance too!

[RuleBritannia]

Well that settles it. If the ICC won't recognise him, he's out of the cricket world cup. Good riddance too!

Don't confuse the Americans.

[Goldenmane]

Well that settles it. If the ICC won't recognise him, he's out of the cricket world cup. Good riddance too!

Barely gets a 'heh' out of me.

Sorry.

Might have worked if you'd taken a line like "no-one wants a man in a dress playing international cricket" or some such... nah, I can't actually think of a way to make that link work.

Holy fuck, hang on... am I actually taking shit seriously?

Sorry, Xam. I'll try not to let it happen again. I was, in my defense, not taking the Pope seriously, but taking humour seriously. Next time i do that, you have my permission to slap me silly.

[beige]

I was googling around looking for stuff to let off a bit of accumulated atheist-rage to deposit at an undisclosed location on the internet, when I came across this from 2005:

VATICAN CITY -- Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.

The Vatican's embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20 requesting the U.S. government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope's lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas in Houston.

Looks like it was a good enough excuse then, who knows - maybe we'll have better luck. I certainly hope so. publicity stunt or not, the man should be locked up.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Well that settles it. If the ICC won't recognise him, he's out of the cricket world cup. Good riddance too!

Barely gets a 'heh' out of me.

Sorry.

Might have worked if you'd taken a line like "no-one wants a man in a dress playing international cricket" or some such... nah, I can't actually think of a way to make that link work.

Holy fuck, hang on... am I actually taking shit seriously?

Sorry, Xam. I'll try not to let it happen again. I was, in my defense, not taking the Pope seriously, but taking humour seriously. Next time i do that, you have my permission to slap me silly.

Just in case I'm not around next time.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

Vatican City is not recognised as a state by the UN. Nor, following from that, is the Pope recognised as a Head of State by the UN (do you think Geoffrey Robertson would be pursuing the course he is if this was the case? If you do, then stop being stupid.) The ICC, then, also doesn't and will not (cannot) recognice Ratzi as a Head of State and immune from prosecution.

Robertson possesses and uses one of the finest legal minds on the planet when it comes to international human rights law. He wouldn't make such a fucking amateur error if he was falling-down drunk, covered in ferociously hungry meat-ant/hooker hybrids, and receiving a fly-agaric enema.

ETA: One of the reasons people think the bastards qualify as a State is because the bastards keep claiming that they are a State, and GW Bushtard fucking fell for it, granting (by executive order, IIRC) Ratzi Immunity from Prosecution under the misapprehension that Ratzi qualifies as a Head of State - this in response to a legal bid launched in the US to take the Ratburger to court over involvement in or responsibility for (or something regarding) child sex abuse in the Catholic Kidfucker League.

Got any links?