It's been a busy few weeks for the Vatican. First, it staked out a new frontier of creepiness by picking on a nine-year old for having an abortion after being raped and impregnated by her step-father. The Vatican supported the excommunication of her doctors and mother by her local bishop. According to the Telegraph UK, the girl's pregnancy and abuse were revealed "when the girl complained of stomach pains and told officials she had been abused since the age of six."

It must have been a familiar reflex for the Vatican, reprising its rich history of protecting pedophiles while heeping ignominy on the victim, in this case a little girl. While the Vatican sanctions the ex-communications of mothers of rape victims and the doctors who care for them, it's telling whom it spares. Pope Benedict recently lifted the ex-communication of Richard Williamson, a British bishop who has used his high station in the Church to broadcast denials of the holocaust. He claimed historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed." According to the Jerusalem Post, "Williamson has said that only 200,000-300,000 Jews died during World War II and that gas chambers were a fiction."

Early this week, the Vatican, once again, planted its flag in the nation of Crazy. Pope Benedict took advantage of his trip to Africa, home to the world's highest HIV/AIDS rates, to discourage condom use and suggest that condoms help spread HIV. For several years now, Bishops in Africa have pleaded with the Vatican to reconsider its inexplicable opposition to condom use, even for married couples, to protect against the disease. The Pope finally put all hopes to rest, becoming the first pope in thirty years to speak out publicly against the use of condoms to prevent HIV infection. Sixty percent of the world's population living with HIV/AIDS is in Africa. Pope Benedict explained the spread of HIV/AIDS "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems," mystifying scientists, medical professionals, HIV/AIDS experts, as well as all people with common sense.