Finally, a Vatican scandal that doesn't involve molesting children! Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, and a former Italian Infrastructure and Transport Minister are being investigated for aggravated corruption in connection with shady real estate deals and multi-million euro kickbacks. Breathe easy, Pope.

[The June issue of Vermont Catholic magazine, put out by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, shows a bishop ordaining a priest, or something. via The Plaid Crew]

Pope Benedict may have ignored warnings about pedophiles and doddered while Rome perved, but he's nowhere near the worst pope ever. Here, via history writer Tony Perrottet, we round up the Vatican's greatest villains – syphilis, hookers and all.

According to Politics Daily a protester who claims he was abused by a Catholic priest has been treated to regular tirades of abuse and denigration by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States.

It's been a few days since a Catholic priest said something truly awful, so Brazilian archbishop Dadeus Grings decided it was time to tell a local newspaper all sorts of crazy shit. Hint: Gay teens really upset him.

Child molesting Bishop Roger Vangheluwe from Bruges, Belgium, has resigned from his post after he admitted sexually abusing children during his tenure. Earlier in the week, Bishop John Favalora of Miami and Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare, Ireland, also resigned. It's nice of them to resign, but shouldn't these people be in jail? [BBC]

For the first time since his letter to Irish Catholics last month, Benedict mentioned the growing sex abuse scandal in his weekly address to the public in Vatican City. He didn't specify what action the church would take. [AP, Getty]

Missing child Nathaniel Fons wound up at St. Patrick's cathedral Tuesday night. "Thank goodness the people knew enough that St. Patrick's is a place that a child can be taken care of and be safe," said Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

Celibacy is not the pearly-gated Utopia that so many Americans think it is. It's been a hit in our puritanical country for centuries, but with Lady Gaga on board it's enjoying a new hipness. This is a very bad idea.

A Vatican lawyer, responding to Associated Press reports that the pope had personally advocated slowing down the defrocking of a convicted child rapist, said the case was handled "expeditiously not by modern standards, but by the standards at the time."

In 1978, Rev. Stephen Kiesle pleaded no contest to charges of tying up and molesting two young boys in a rectory. The Diocese of Oakland asked Cardinal Ratzinger if Kiesle could be defrocked. Four years later, Ratzi recommend against it.

Tonight on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart continued his harsh criticism of the Catholic Church—and, specifically, the Pope—regarding its handling of several pedophiliac sex scandals that have caught the media's attention as of late. The controversial video, inside.

Easter Sunday came and went without the Pope so much as mentioning the biggest scandal to hit the Catholic Church in recent memory. Instead, the dean of the College of Cardinals lashed out at everyone who dares question Benedict.

The Pope has angered Washingtonpost.com blogger Sally Quinn, presumably by not being from DC and perhaps not attending one of her dinner parties. Ratzi is totally uninvited from Quinn Bradlee's wedding.

Click to viewOn Larry King Live last night, professional overzealous defender of the Catholic Church Bill Donohue explained to Sinead O'Connor that it's not pedophilia if the victim is 12 or 13.

And by 'smear' they mean 'air perfectly legitimate, well-reported claims that the pope, the actual pope, was complicit in covering up the sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic clergy'. It's just a matter of semantics. [NYT]

The Vatican is under fire for issuing statements that conflict with facts in a case involving a child molesting priest and the future Pope Benedict XVI in Germany in the 80's. Things aren't looking good for the Pope these days.

Tonight, Jon Stewart did what he's best at: mocking something while convincingly arguing against it. Stewart's target? The Catholic Church, for—among other things—covering up a gay prostitution ring run by a Vatican Choir singer for the Pope's usher.

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been on a rampage against newspapers he doesn't own who bring up his naughty relationship with an 18-year old alleged prostitute mistress. And now his tabloid war has taken an unholy, hell-baiting turn.

Today, after much protest, controversy and hysterical outrage, Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at Notre Dame. In his speech to the Catholic school's graduates, Obama addressed growing concerns about his "respect for life" head-on.