Reply #24: If the Vatican really is sovereign nation...

[Deep13]

...and not just a religion and they are supporting criminal activity in this country, then we are not talking about lawsuits. If another country was found to be complicit in the systematic rape of our children, they would be exposed to anything from sanctions and the seizure of assets to invasion and conquest. And the Vatican has in fact been on the receiving end of that kind of action before. At the beginning of the 14th century, King Philip the IV of France actually captured the pope and held him as a puppet government to run the western church from France. Boniface the VIII was, in Phil's estimation, undermining his royal authority within the Kingdom of France and he refused to tolerate it.

So if the Vatican really wants to go down the sovereign state road, under the rules of war their assets, including all church funds and real estate, would be seized by the Feds. as enemy contraband. All priests and bishops and cooperating civilians could be arrested and even shot as enemy collaborators. There would be no need for a civil judgment.

But this will never happen. Not because they are innocent bystanders--they aren't--but because neither this nor any U.S. president will openly antagonize the R.C. church. They are simply too powerful in this country and around the world for the Feds. to take them on.