Pope XVI... Who?

.

with
&



Pope Benedict XVI explains which types of slow, deliberate touching the church deems inappropriate.

VATICAN CITY — Hello, this is Anderson Cooper reporting for Anderson Cooper 360º from Vatican City... are we in Vatican City or Rome?... I see. Reporting from Vatican City. Calling the behavior shameful, sinful, and much more frequent than the Vatican was comfortable with, Pope Benedict XVI vowed this week to bring the widespread pedophilia within the Roman Catholic Church down to a more manageable level. At first I thought he was kidding and I giggled loudly, but when I saw the look he gave me I, ahem, presented my full attention to him.

The Pope then addressed thousands gathered at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the pontiff offered his "most humble apologies" to abuse victims, and pledged to reduce the total number of molestations by 60 percent over the next five years.

The crowd soared.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Pope Benedict said. "It seems a weakening of faith in God has prevented our priests from exercising moderation when sexually abusing helpless minors."

"And let me remind our clergy of the holy vows they all took when they entered the priesthood," he continued. "They should know that they're only allowed one small child every other month."

Applause broke loudly for about ten minutes; an eternity to my ears and credibility.

The pope said he was deeply disappointed to learn that the number of children sexually abused by priests was almost 10 times beyond the allowable limit clearly outlined in church doctrine. Admitting for the first time in public that the overindulgent touching of "tender, tender young flesh" had become a full-blown crisis, the Holy Father vowed to implement new reforms to bring the pedophilia rate back down to five children per 1,000 clergy.

More incredibly long and loud applause from the crowd.

Later that day I spoke with Vatican spokesperson Rev. Federico Lombardi who said, "The truth is there will always be a little bit of molestation —- it's simply unavoidable. But the fact that young boys have gotten much more attractive over the past few decades is no excuse for the blatant defiance of church limits that have been in place for centuries."

"The majority of priests don't want to molest kids at all," he added with a strangely sly smile on his face. "But for those who do, we must make sure they're doing it at a reasonable rate."

Following the pope's speech, the Vatican released a statement outlining its plan to reduce pedophilia. Starting next year, specially trained cardinals will make unannounced visits to inspect and observe random churches in order to ensure they are not going beyond diocese-wide molestation caps. The inspector-cardinals will grade each parish based on long, private interviews with altar boys in darkened church basements, and careful observation of priests' sexual activity.

These senior officials will also have the authority to enforce harsh punishments for any clergy member violating his allotment of pedophilia.

"If a priest goes even one child over the limit, there will be hell to pay," told me the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops Giovanni Battista Re, an extremely handsome and young, preppy looking Perfect -- perfect in more than title name, who was my only anonymous source. He explained the Vatican's new "Three Strikes, You're Out" rule. "After the third offense, the offending priest will immediately be moved to another parish. This will give officials time to investigate the case, and will act as an effective deterrent since it usually takes months for priests to gain the trust of the new children."

As a "goodwill measure," anonymous and handsome Perfect Re said all churches will also be required to display a sign next to the altar showing the number of days since the last molestation.

Criticism of the pope's new plan has already begun to emerge from within the Catholic Church itself. Rev. Aywant Moore, a pastor at St. Peter's in Chicago, questioned the Vatican's methodology in calculating the molestation rates, saying the church's inconsistent definition of pedophilia may have skewed the numbers.

"Is it technically pedophilia if the child's clothes are fully on the entire time? What if he's asleep when it happens?" Rev. Moore asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and he continued. "It's time we had some clear guidance from Rome on this issue. For instance, the church counts it as one incident regardless of whether the child is molested multiple times by the same individual or by two priests at once. That's just plain wrong." I pretended I didn't hear that, but took note to bring up the subject to higher authorities.

"Plus, if it's supposed to be a special secret between the priest and the boy, is it even any of the church's business in the first place?" he added. "Maybe pretty altar boy Brandon is just trying to get attention to himself."

The Vatican would not release details of the pope's upcoming world tour, in which he plans to clear up any confusion on the matter by personally demonstrating what constitutes molestation. I dismissed myself immediately upon hearing that message. Who is in charge here, I asked myself, other than the Pope?

---

Perfect Re played by Nathan Fillion as directed by Peter.