On Pell

John Bushell writes: Re. “Pope Francis must act on Pell” (yesterday). Pope Francis is going to have to do a whole lot more than “act on Pell” if he is to rid the Catholic Church of institutionalised abuse of minors. For 15 centuries Catholic clergy were obliged by Church edicts to hand over paedophiles to the law. In 1917 — the ‘Code of Cannon Law’, 1922 — the ‘Secret of the Holy Office’ and 1974 — the “Pontifical Secret” all subjected acts of paedophilia to absolute secrecy within the Catholic Church.

The Pope and the whole Catholic hierarchy must swiftly repeal these obnoxious edicts wherever they impede the investigation and disclosures of any act that would be illegal in the countries in which they are perpetrated.

Further, they must repeal them retrospectively so that current and past criminal action by members of the Catholic clergy are not placed above the law and the necessary criminal investigations and, if necessary, prosecutions can proceed.

On the real strength of the economy

Christian Kent writes: Re. “Just increasing the debt” (yesterday). So what does Harry propose?  This is a trade deficit, not a government budget deficit.  The debt is “held”, although that’s the wrong word since there is nothing to repay, by a multitude of organisations and individuals. I thought a floating currency was the only antidote you need, or indeed, can give for this malaise.  Please educate me if I’m wrong.

Speaking of the overall picture, if you add up the entire “debt” from 1788 you’ll find, I hope, a complete modern economy.  Somewhere deep down that rabbit hole is an interesting hypothetical of the unimproved land value of Aboriginal Australia.

On the primaries

Megan Stoyles writes: Re. “Rundle: the shitstorm cometh, now the GOP has every reason to dump Trump” (yesterday). At last a piece on the primaries and run up to election that I can understand. I studied American history and politics at uni, and  travelled there on a political study tour. I read a lot that’s around online in Australia, but life’s too short to spend all day reading stuff. Rundle’s analysis today will now help me plough through it all more easily. Thank you sir.