Oy, the Vatican...

Deliver us from evil... ...and Madonna's road show. Prosecutors in Dusseldorf are ready to monitor Madonna's show this weekend, making sure she doesn't repeat the mock crucifixion scene the Vatican denounced a few weeks ago. Apparently, it could be construed as insulting religious beliefs. The Vatican claimed it was "an act of hostility toward the Roman Catholic church." Bishop Velasio De Paolis, in an article from the Telegraph UK, said: "How this woman can take the name of the mother of Christ, I don't know. Her show represents the rotten fruit of secularism and the absurdity of evil." I think Pope Ratzo, or whatever his non-NaziYouth name is now, should worry about more pressing issues in the Roman Catholic church these days.

One of the headlines read: Vatican Scandalized By Madonna Crucifixion.

When will all of this anger be directed toward the declining rate of Catholicism in the United States, or perhaps toward the recent onslaught of pedophilic priests?

From: Patrick J. Buchanan's website:

--Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.

--Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.

--Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.

--Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.

--Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.

Fix your church first, dudes. When all that is said and done, then maybe you'll have time to publicly denounce pop icons that offend you.