Arcacia issues arrest warrant for Pope.

PROVIDENCE: In a move that has been welcomed by Arcacian victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, the High Court has today issued a warrant to arrest Pope Benedict XVI. Should the Pope ever enter Arcacia or Lycanthia, he will be immediately arrested by either the Police or Coast Guard and brought before the High Court in Providence on a raft of charges relating to the church's alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse. The Pope does not have diplomatic immunity in either Arcacia or Lycanthia as he is not seen as a Head of State and Vatican City is not recognised by Arcacia nor Lycanthia as a sovereign nation.

At least 20 Arcacians have come forward to say they were victimised by priests and nuns in boarding homes and schools through the 1940s to the 1980s. The last Catholic run boarding house in the country was closed in 1991 amidst a child sexual abuse scandal and all of its staff arrested. The school's chaplain is currently serving a life sentence.

The Vatican has dismissed the warrant as "folly," but the President today issued a stern warning saying that the Pope will be arrested if he enters Arcacia or Lycanthia and anyone who stands in the way of the Police or Coast Guard will also be arrested on a charge of obstructing an officer of the law.

One trillion dollars is a lot for a sex abuse scandal.

Illu'a doesn't approve of the arrest warrant, but will remain as neutral as possible. (You should see what Lower Columbians are thinking of this right now.)

Bail is set proportionally to both the crime and to wealth. The crime is extremely serious and the wealth of the church is extremely high.

Bail must be stipulated in an arrest warrant by law. The amount is at the discretion of the judge. If Mr. Ratzinger does enter Arcacia and is arrested, he will go to arraignment where bail could be refused and he will be placed on remand.

The charges carry a total sentence of 25 years.

Haha, this is what they want to do in England and Ireland - but the Pope is actually visiting next year, .

Ollingdale does not support this arrest warrant, and condemns Arcacia's actions as inappropriate and unnecessary.

(BTW how do you know the Pope knew about these crimes?)

Innocent until proven guilty. He has the right to a defence and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. That being said, there is ample documentation that demonstrates he had knowledge of these crimes and sought to cover them up.

On a side note, Arcacia does not consider the opinions of other member nations to be in any way pertinent to the case.

Okay dokey. And we have to defend our biggest religions leader, .
How many Catholics are there in Arcacia?

There are about 22,500 (9%) Catholics in Arcacia, and about 202,500 (81%) Atheists. Of the Catholics, most are culturally Catholic, not necessarily observant. Within Arcacia, this measure has been very well received.

Lycanthia is 68% Catholic, but even there the measure has been well received.

Child sexual abuse is one of those crimes where people have very little sympathy for the offenders and a high degree of contempt for those who would cover it up.

Whereas the Tirnreich has the official religion of Christianity, the government does not support this case.

Though, if such a terrible crime is committed, and if such a claim can be proven to have weight, the Tirnreich will understand and approve of Aracia's actions.

I thing that 1 trillion dollars is too much!

These charges relate to the late 1980s and early 1990s when the Pope was a Cardinal. It is alleged that these crimes were reported to him and, rather than seeking appropriate legal intervention, he swept it under the rug.

One trillion dollars is seen as an appropriate bail given Mr Ratzinger's current role.

1 trillion is perfect, too much recidivists. Well Lanaya agree with the arrestation.

Does anyone really know how much the Vatican has in money? People say a lot, but I'm still not sure.

CWNEWS reports that in 2003, the Vatican was at a deficit of about $11.8
million. "The budget figures show that overall income for 2003 at
203,659,498 euros ($252,262,837) and expenses at 213,228,954 euros
($264,116,044)"

And Escambia/Ceará Islands government condemns Arcacias act in issuing an arrest warrant. Also 1 trillion dollars in way to much.

Kingdom of Hypertrophy does find this excessive and it will not stand with Arcacia's decision for the arrest warrant for Pope Benedict XVI. However, it will remain neutral as it is the country's right to decide to try Pope Benedict XVI for the charges above.

The fact that he is now the Pope is neither here nor there. As I stated, these charges relate to before he was the pope. Also, it is neither here nor there whether other member nations like it or not. As a government, our priority is always the citizens, not other governments.

If the Pope enters the Republic of Aleksania, he will be turned over too the Arcacian Embassy

Holidia has a population consisting of around 35% roman catholic, whilst Holidia was particularly bad for the forementioned scandal supporting such a warrant will cause outrage amongst a large percentage of our population...

The pope, whilst not having de jure diplomatic status in Holidia and Ireland, is given the same rights and privledges as other heads of states with such immunity.

We will remain entirely neutral in this issue.

If the Pope enter in Lanaya, he won't be able to enter in the nation and will be send back to the country he came from

As Fornax is a Christian community with a significant amount of Catholic Christians, the Government of Fornax is against the arrest warrant issued by the Government of Arcacia, solely due to the fact that the bail is of an absolutely ridiculous amount of $1 trillion.

The Government of Fornax also condemn both the Government of Lanaya and the Government of Aleksania for supporting the moves by the Arcacian Government. Also, foreign relations with all three Arcacia, Lanaya and Aleksania will be heavily affected.

Since when is the Pope above the law?

The Republic of Arcacia operates its legal system equally, without fear or favour and will not be swayed by veiled threats of diplomatic sanctions.

No one is above the law; however, arresting someone with status such as the pope or indeed a head of state causes outcry from the region/nation they are associated with and their allies.

Is the pope not the head-of-state of the Holy See?

The Republic of Arcacia does not recognise the sovereignty of the Holy See.

Can we at least reduce the bail?

The bail was set by the Chief Justice of the High Court.

Bail can be reduced, but in order for that to happen, Mr Ratzinger would need to surrender himself to arrest. He will then be brought before the judge within 24 hours for arraignment.

He would then need to argue successfully that he:
a) is not a flight risk.
b) has insufficient assets to pay the bail. That is, even if he does not have sufficient cash available, the assets of the Vatican, even if sold, would not cover the bail amount.

The judge may then do one of three things:
1) Dismiss the argument and the bail amount would stand.
2) Reduce the amount of bail to an amount within the collective assets of the Vatican.
3) Refuse bail and remand Mr Ratzinger to custody pending trial.

As Petrova has a huge catholic community, upon hearing this news, some of the citizens have caused riots throughout the Petrovar cities to show their condemnations. However, Petrovar officials will stay neutral with this case to reduce any further unrest in the country.