Last week, Angelo Sodano, the dean of cardinals in Rome, defended Pope Benedict XVI from charges that he did not do enough — or anything — about pedophile priests when he was a bishop in Germany and later as a cardinal heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In addressing “petty gossip” criticizing the church, he told the official Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano that it was not Jesus’ fault that Judas betrayed him and not a bishop’s fault if a priest shamed himself.
Let’s dispense with the self-serving syllogism. As far as we know, no one went to Jesus to say: “We have documentation that Judas is a traitor. Do you want to do anything about it?”