Pope Benedict is a monster, and so are YOU.

--that is, if you are Catholic and are not out in the street demanding his removal along with his enablers.

You are a monster because you are complicit in preserving an institution that--at best--looked the other way while hundreds of priests molested thousands of children across the world. At worst, it not only allowed these horrors to continue but acted to obstruct criminal investigations.

And who was officially responsible for these obstructions? Who allowed these abuses to continue?

Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict.

Young children.

Young deaf children.

Children the world over.

I can barely contain my rage as I write these words.

I have listened and read the comments of Catholics who make excuse after excuse for these depraved individuals. I was listening on NPR the other day and almost drove off the road I was so furious.

I grew up Catholic. My family is Catholic. I know many well-intentioned, good-hearted Catholics. But that only increases my fury.

Despite your claims to the contrary, despite your ability to throw yourself onto the street when it comes to abortion, you can't muster empathy for the thousands of children who suffered at the hands of these grotesque individuals.

You are incapable of empathy for fellow humans.

Because we all know, if it were YOU, if it were YOUR child, it would be a different story.

THOUSANDS of children were sodomized by priests.

THOUSANDS of children were forced to submit to sexual acts by priests.

Under the auspices of the goddamn Catholic Church.

Which then covered up for the priests.

Shuffled them around so they could keep molesting.

Prevented investigators from gathering evidence.

This is not "gossip." This is documented FACT.

Think about it. Imagine it. Let it sink into your thick fucking skull. Think about those priests and what they did. Think about the children and what it must have been like for them.

Can you imagine it? Yes?

And yet you'll walk through those doors again while that despicable man still leads your institution?

We all make excuses for institutions we hold dear. Women's organizations excused Bill Clinton playing "hide the cigar" with his intern. After decades of decrying out-of-wedlock births, every attendee at the Republican National Convention stood and cheered Sarah Palin's unwed pregnant teenage daughter.

This is another order entirely.

Don't speak to me of "the church being more than the pope."

If your children's school principal had known about teachers molesting children, had not instantly acted to remove them, and had obstructed criminal investigations, would you say, "Oh, the school is more than the principal," and speak of moving forward, the principal still in place?

Sick.

YOU are sick if you would walk into a Catholic church again before these vile, depraved monsters are removed from their positions.

CLEAN. YOUR. HOUSE.

UPDATE: And that means you, Bill Donohue, you and your execrable Catholic League. Funny how you can get so redfaced and hotheaded about a little paintings in a museum somewhere, but when helpless children the world over are molested by depraved pedophile priests and your "infallible" Papi covers it up, all you can do is make excuses. If there's a hell, there'll be a special place in it for you and your ilk.