Oh, ffs.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I see.  So, if you believed in the tenets of National Socialism (and I'm not for a moment suggesting that you do) and orders came down that you would be required to help man the ovens at Dachau, no one has the right to criticize either the orders or to tell you that following them is wrong?

Sorry to have to inform you of this, but '...willingly listening to morons' has caused more sorrow, grief and eradication of human dignity than anything else I can think of.  

Boru

As far as I know, the Vatican isn't instructing anyone to commit atrocities or break the law. So that's not what I meant, nor would I do that or expect moral agents to stand by doing nothing if I did.

You're still not getting it. See my reply to abaris.

Suppose a Catholic couple have been married 50 years, the husband dies. The wife has him cremated and keeps his urn at home. It's what she remembers him by, it keeps her connected to him, and helps her through the hard, lonely times she endures without the man she spend most of her life with. And then the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, tells her that by keeping this anchor of solace in her home she is a sinner.

Not all atrocities are physical.

Boru