Two American advocacy groups representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court, asking it to investigate Pope Benedict and three other top Vatican officials for covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests. It is unclear whether the ICC has jurisdiction over this case. The ICC investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed after July 1, 2002, when it was established. The Vatican, like the United States, have not ratified the Rome Statute that created the court, meaning the ICC has no jurisdiction there.

Rome is teeming with Catholic tourists this weekend, who have arrived to witness the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II. The beatification is the third of four steps of sainthood — and John Paul II is on the fast track. Pope Benedict XVI vowed to make his friend and mentor a saint and will celebrate the Beatification Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, sooner than any other blessed person before him. But the decision to rush beatify John Paul II has not been met without controversy. 

A newly disclosed Vatican document reveals that officials instructed Ireland’s bishops not to report all suspected child abuse cases to the police. David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says that the 1997 letter undermines persistent Vatican claims that Rome never instructed bishops to withhold evidence. Joe Rigert is a journalist and author of "An Irish Tragedy: How Sex Abuse by Irish Priests Helped Cripple the Catholic Church," and puts this new development in context.

The New York Times reported this week that top Vatican officials, including the future Pope, did not defrock an American priest who had sexually abused as many as 200 boys at a Milwaukee school for the deaf. Arthur Budzinski is one of the deaf victims named in the abuse case and he tells us how the experience changed his life. We also hear from his daughter, Gigi, who interprets on the air.

When Pope Benedict XVI was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he did not defrock a priest who allegedly molested as many as 200 deaf boys over the course of decades, according to records obtained by The New York Times. 

Hundreds of sexual abuse cases against Catholic priests have been surfacing in Ireland over the past weeks and the Pope said he will address the crisis in a repentance letter tomorrow.

But his efforts could be undermined by a scandal of his own. Last week, a senior church official said when the Pope was Archdiocese of Munich, he made “serious mistakes” in handling one specific priest accused of molesting boys back in the early 1980s.

 

• FINANCIAL TAKEOUT: There has been a lot of talk about financial reform, but today, there will be some action. Connecticut's Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, unveils a new broad financial reform bill today. But will it be enough, and will it have support it needs to pass?  New York Times financial reporter Louise Story takes a look.
  
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: The NCAA Tournament brackets have been set, and Kansas University is the number one overall seed. Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin talks college basketball, and helps us understand the major players at this stage in the game.

President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican today. Catholics supported President Obama in the U.S. during the elections— he won the majority of their votes. But there continues to be friction between Catholics and the president over the issue of abortion. Joining The Takeaway is BBC Rome Correspondent David Willey who is at the Vatican today. Also joining the conversation is Cathleen Kaveny, the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Theology at Notre Dame University.

Tomorrow President Obama heads to Italy for the opening of the G8 summit. He will meet with Pope Benedict, who has just issued a new encyclical calling for a new financial world order. In the paper, called "Charity in Truth," the Pope draws on traditional Catholic teaching in rebuking the profit-at-all-costs mentality of the global economy. Greed is a mortal sin, after all. For more, The Takeaway talks to David Willey, Rome correspondent for our partners the BBC.

President Obama has nominated Miguel Diaz, a Cuban-American theology professor from Minnesota, as the new ambassador to the Vatican. If confirmed by the Senate, Diaz will be the first Latino to fill this post. He will also be inheriting a position that has been vacant since the January departure of Mary Ann Glendon, a Bush appointee and a staunch abortion opponent. David Willey, BBC's Rome correspondent joins us with more.

If we learned anything about our new President during his trip abroad this month, it's that his charm speaks all languages. But it seems that if President Obama wants to pick an ambassador to the Vatican, he may need to turn up the charm a notch. Our partners, the BBC, are reporting that the Vatican has informally vetoed three of Obama’s potential nominees for U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. For more we turn to David Willey, Rome correspondent for the BBC.