[M67]

Vatican City is 'world's worst for crime'
09/01/2003 - 16:42:50

More crimes are committed per inhabitant in the Vatican City than any other country in the world, according to new statistics.

The Papal State's police force says 608 penal offences were committed last year in the independent religious state whose population is just 455.

The vast majority were robberies committed against tourists visiting the Sistine chapel and the Vatican museums as well as against shoppers in the Vatican's only supermarket.

There were also 397 civil proceedings taken out by the Holy See's police, mainly traffic offences and for insulting Vatican officials.

Since the murder of a Papal Swiss Guard in 1998, the Vatican police have been keen to show themselves as a transparent and effective force.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=72184772&p=7zy85635&n=72185715


The Statistics have spoken! :p

[Drjones]

Does that include crimes between priests and their altar boys? :what: :uhoh:

[Hkmp5sd]

This is a useless statistic. Since most of the crimes are commited against tourists and most are commited by non-vatican residents, it's not really 608 crimes by/to the 455 residents.

[PATH]

DrJones,

That was a cheap shot.

PATH

[Drjones]

But true nonetheless! :eek:

:evil:

Come on....lighten up!!!

[M67]

Hkmp5sd, I was trying to be sarcastic. Of course it's useless, that's why I posted it.

Americans (M67 shaking his head). No sense of humor. Or was that the French? Well, I'm pretty sure there are some foreigners out there known for their lack of humor, and sometimes I get them all confused - you know how it is, one foreigner is pretty much the same as the next. :D

Now if only I could remember where I put my nomex underwear... :what:

[Don Gwinn]

Don't give us any lip about a sense of humor--we've seen some of your movies over here. Actually, I think that's the Swedes--but that's the same thing, right? :evil:

[M67]

Ouch!

[Hkmp5sd]

M67,

Sorry, I wasn't flaming you. I was flaming the idiot that took the time to research and write the article. It's like the statistic that a person living in Florida is more likely to be bitten by a shark than a person living in Nevada. Technically true, but totally stupid. :)

[M67]

Hkmp5sd

I never thought you were flaming me, I was just trying to make a joke. I could say I'm sorry about that, but then we would be dangerously close to a circular argument. You know, the "sense of humour" thing in my previous post... :D
Actually, I was once told, by an Englishman, that out of all the people he had ever met, I possibly had the driest sense of humour. The only other contestant for that title was my brother. So, if my bad jokes cause any misunderstanding, I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. :)

[4v50 Gary]

Where tourists are, so follow the pickpockets, luggage thieves, and purse snatchers. Happens in every big city. If the Vatican wanted their crime to drop, they'll keep the tourists out.

[KY Moose]

Drjones
Does that include crimes between priests and their altar boys?

I think so, it did say there was 608 Penal Offenses.:D

[cuchulainn]

Vatican City is 100% urban -- it's a city that is also a nation.

Urban areas have the highest crime rates. It would be interesting to compare the Vatican City crime rates to those of New York (rather than U.S) or London or Paris or .....

Rome.

I'd suspect that Vatican City -- being within Rome -- has a crime rate similar to Rome.

Thus what this article does is compare apples and oranges ... city vs. nations ... but it gets away with it because technically Vatican City is a nation.




Yeah, I suppose we Catholics should "lighten up" and see the humorous side of pedophilia and the betrayal by some of our clergy, but it's really hard to find right now. :(

[Preacherman]

I suppose we Catholics should "lighten up" and see the humorous side of pedophilia and the betrayal by some of our clergy, but it's really hard to find right now.Cuchulainn, you ain't heard the half of it... Most people don't know how absolutely sick about all this most priests are! To know that one's brother in the cloth could do something so vile, so disgusting, so unutterably and terminally EVIL, is the most ghastly realization - never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined a scandal like that which has affected us over the past year. And when some of our bishops effectively condone such conduct by covering it up, allowing offenders to continue in the ministry, and reassigning them to other dioceses while lying in covering letters that there are no moral problems involved - well, that's just too sick for words.

I think if I'd been a priest in Boston under Cardinal Law, and found out what he'd done, I would have immediately resigned from his diocese, on the grounds that I could not whole-heartedly vow obedience to a superior who had behaved like that. If I'd been refused permission to resign, I would have asked for my pastoral faculties to be suspended, and would have done anything to support myself - even flip burgers, if I had to! - until such time as a bishop assumed office to whom I could, in good conscience, renew my oath of obedience. It's that bad... and there are many, many priests who feel this way.

[cuchulainn]

Preacherman,

We laity understand your feelings -- we're going through it in our own way.

[T.Stahl]

Don Gwinn, be careful equating Norwegians with Swedes, that's like Americans & Canadians or Germans & Austrians! :D

[Drjones]

Preacherman:

I do hope I did not offend you at all with my joke.

It was a joke, no more, no less.

I think we're all mature enough around here to be able to find humor in everything, including ourselves.

:)

[Joe Demko]

I think we're all mature enough around here to be able to find humor in everything, including ourselves.

You'll forgive me if I do not find pedophilia to be a laff riot.

I'm a Byzantine Catholic, thankfully our rite has not seen the problems with clergy that our Roman brothers have dealt with over the last year or so. None the less, I understand the feeling of betrayal they must be carrying. It's so easy to say "just joking!" after an episode of foot-in-mouth. Think twice. Post once.

[abaddon]

Quote:

"Thus what this article does is compare apples and oranges ... city vs. nations ... but it gets away with it because technically Vatican City is a nation."

Singapore is also a city. They have a very low crime rate. Of course they also cane people for keying cars...

Jeff