Following the sale of a paedophile advice guide on the book-selling website Amazon, the Vatican is now considering repealing its long-standing policy banning openly paedophiliac men from serving in the priesthood.
Known informally as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Get Caught and Damage the Church's Reputation", the policy bans priests who admit to fancying little boys or who get caught doing it in a way that the Vatican is unable to hush up.
Traditionally, the view has been that allowing openly paedophiliac priests to serve in the Vatican would "damage morale" and could harm the "war [against public perception of Catholics as reasonable, healthy people] effort".
Pope Benedict XVI has called for an end to the policy, however. In addition, a recently-published Vatican report indicates that 70% of priests say the effects of repealing the ban would be "positive, mixed, or non-existent".
However, hopes for a repeal dimmed this month amid liberal, sexually non-deviant gains in the Vatican Council. A significant minority still oppose the idea of serving alongside openly paedophiliac priests, or of paedophiles serving alongside altar boys. In addition, widespread Catholic anger about the state of the economy and the limited success of spiritual healing to 350 million uninsured Catholics has left Pope Benedict's approval ratings at an all-time low.