Wrong and strong

• It's not enough for the Pope to be "ashamed" of his American paedophile priests, as he claimed to be today on his way to the US. He also has to do something about them. Actually, a lot more than just "something".

The Catholic church has caused incalculable damage to individuals and families across America (not to mention anywhere else). US dioceses have paid out more than $2 billion in settlements (think what that could have done to further the church's real work—in fact, how come the church has anything like that amount stashed away in the first place, when its supposed founder taught "sell all you have and give to the poor"?). And it has shamelessly protected guilty priests and the church's interests.

No amount of money is going to heal that wound. Nor is the Pope's professed shame, sincere or otherwise. The church itself tells its flock that sinners must first feel genuine remorse for the sin, confess it, and beg for forgiveness.

So first the church needs to show some sign of genuine remorse, something not squeezed out of it by the lawyers. An apology might be nice: a formal admission that the priests sinned, the bishops who protected them sinned, and the Pope who protected the bishops sinned. This needs to be done in public, and the church needs to suffer some real embarrassment before anyone will believe it really cares a hoot about what happened.

And then the church must formally beg forgiveness for its sins, from those whom it has so grievously offended. The "ashamed" Pope has so far had the gall to refuse even to meet with representatives of the abused victims. If he really even began to understand what had happened, he would go down on his 81-year-old knees before these victims and their families, he would beg their forgiveness, and he would not get up until he had heard what they had to say and had promised to carry out whatever penance they cared to impose upon him and his shameless church.

Small chance of that happening as the Pope tours America. If it does, I shall happily eat my words.

• It's just as sickening to see politicians acting in the same kind of way, never admitting they could possibly be wrong. In Kenya, Mwai Kibaki has gotten away completely with his stolen election. In Zimbabwe, it looks as if Robert Mugabe might get away with it too, though clearly a measure of violence will still be necessary. It's a lesson to every crook in office or aspiring to it: just brazen it out long enough and the world will lose interest.

It Italy, the serpent king himself has managed to slither back into power. His method was not to rig the results, but to fix the electoral system to suit his interests last time he was prime minister, so that it worked in his favour this time. He controls all three of Italy's commercial TV stations, and still has to deal with two sets of corruption charges in court. But what the hell, vote him back.

Democracy, ha!