The worst crime in the world

The subject of an interesting short story by GK Chesterton, the worst crime in the world was generally thought to be parricide.

For the Pope, who is in Malta celebrating the 1950th anniversary of St Paul’s shipwreck and his therefore unintentional evangelising of the island (it’s about the only thing to do when stuck in a place like Malta) the worst crime in the world is despair.

Papa Ratzinger is getting rather a tough time in Malta and the old boy, with his plea for the whole church to do penance (it’s not ordinary Roman Catholics who have been molesting children, is it Joseph?) is looking increasingly out of his depth. In fact he is looking desperate.

What the out of touch clergy doesn’t understand is that in the modern world the worst crime in the world is not parricide, not despair, but paedophilia, followed closely by smoking in a public place, denying the global warming shtick and receiving a bonus.