The tip of the iceberg?

MANIFESTO

After months of insisting "that [Pope] Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office," it now turns out that

the future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including "the good of the universal church," according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature.

It never ceases to amuse and amaze me that when autocrats commit some kind of malfeasance, they think they can stonewall it. But when the activity is inevitably discovered, the stonewalling has done more damage to their reputations than the original misdeed.

It doesn't look like this scenario will change any time soon.