Joe Rogan slams The Vatican as a ‘country filled with pedophiles and stolen art’ and criticizes Popes for ‘covering up’ molestation scandals

• Podcaster Joe Rogan calls The Vatican City a ‘country filled with pedophiles’ during a conversation about the history of scandals in the Catholic Church 
• ‘It’s a hundred acre rather, country inside of a city filled with pedophiles,’ Rogan said on the Wednesday airing of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience 
• Rogan was joined with fellow podcasters Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin 
• The trio discussed how previous Pope’s have hid molesting Priest rather than excommunicating them from the church 

By VANESSA SERNA FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Joe Rogan slammed the Catholic church in a Wednesday podcast episode where he calls The Vatican as a ‘country filled with pedophiles and stolen art.’ 

Rogan sat alongside fellow podcasters – Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin – during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience to discuss the Catholic Pope Francis and the various covered up scandals.

‘Even the outrage about things you should be outraged about, like Jeffery Epstein, that outrage was balanced. Right? Sort of. Right? But what about the Catholic church?’ Rogan asked.

‘Like why isn’t everybody really freaking out about –  I was just in Italy and one of the things that’s nuts is the Vatican is a country. It’s a country filled with pedophiles. It’s a country filled with pedophiles and stolen art. It’s a small, like hundred yard – like what is it? A hundred acres, I think. Yeah. It’s a hundred acre rather, country inside of a city filled with pedophiles.’

‘Why isn’t everybody really freaking out,’ Rogan said in reference to the city that sits nearby Italy’s coast.

Francis Foster (left) and Konstantin Kisin (right) joined Joe Rogan on his podcast, The Joe Rogan experience, in the episode that aired on Wednesday. The trio discussed the sexual abuse scandals covered up by the church that have been brought to light in recent years

Rogan said Vatican City was a ‘country filled with pedophiles and stolen art.’ The podcaster referenced the various popes that have allowed clergy to get away with sexual abuse

View galleryVatican City sits in the center of Rome. The city is independent and is ruled by Pope Francis with the authority being the Roman Catholic Church. Francis took over as Pope in 2013.

‘Yeah, absolutely,’ Foster said 

Kisin interrupted, ‘This is why I love American, man. Cause in the UK, we have libel laws. So if you say something like that and you then have to be able to prove it, otherwise you can get sued.’

‘You can kind of prove that,’ Rogan responded.

Foster added, ‘I read the other day that, I think it was five, six years ago, the age of consent in the Vatican City was 12-years-old.’ 

‘I hope that’s not true,’ Kisin said as Producer Jamie Vernon was queued to fact check Foster’s claim.

‘Oh my God. It’s true,’ Rogan said as he proceeded to read off a Google search result. Oh my God. The Vatican city’s equal age of consent being raised from 12 to 18, following the announcement of an overall the Catholic church criminal code by Pope Francis’

Rogan added, ‘Francis is like the most progressive guy, right? In terms of Popes.’ 

Forster responded, ‘I mean, that’s not really saying a lot. Do you know what I mean? 

The trio were referencing Pope Francis who has been reigning in the Vatican since 2013. The pope repealed the former Vatican City law, written in 1889, that said the age of consent was 12-years-old before it changed to 18-years-old about a decade ago, according to the Atlantic. 

Pope Francis (above) was a hot topic of contention on Rogan’s podcast as the trio agreed he is one of the most progressive popes yet 

• The trio discussed on the podcast how the consent age in the Vatican city went from 12-years-old to 18-years old about a decade ago

Rogan continued, ‘The Benedict guy, he was wanted in other countries for crimes against humanity. I mean like what he was doing was really evil. He was moving offenders to other places and one of them he moved a guy that went on to molest a hundred deaf kids!’

‘It’s insanity. I mean this guy was already molesting and then they say well let’s just – instead of trying him and removing him from the church – we’ll just move him to a place where people can’t hear.’ 

‘It’s amazing how people can just cover this stuff up,’ Kisin added. 

Rogan’s comments on the Catholic Church come as the church proceeds to battle with sex abuse and cover-up scandals that has aired across the globe. 

Earlier this year, former Pope Benedict XVI, 95, expressed ‘shock and shame’ at child abuse carried out in his diocese in the 1980s after a report found he knowingly failed to take action against the priests involved.

Benedict served in the dioceses of Munich and Freising in Germany from 1977 to 1982 and denied responsibility in the cases of abuse.

Some of the cases say Benedict allegedly failed to act and remove clergymen who committed sexual abuse acts.

Benedict – whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger – became the first pope to step down from the role in 600 years in 2013. He now lives a secluded life in a former convent inside the grounds of the Vatican. 

A report has accused former Pope Benedict (pictured) of misconduct over his handling of four cases of sexual abuse by priests while he was an archbishop in Germany

Benedict, (pictured in 1980) who served as the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982, also approved the transfer of a suspected paedophile priest to the archdiocese

Abuse scandals continue to come to light, as a study commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference in 2018 concluded that 1,670 clergymen in the country had committed some form of sexual attack against 3,677 minors between 1946 and 2014. 

In 2019, it was revealed that a secret Catholic group operating out of a small Michigan town had reportedly served as a ‘rapid-response’ team to protect hundreds of priests accused of sexual abuse. 

Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a non-profit, would reportedly work out of a series of unmarked buildings in rural Michigan. The non-profit would provide money, shelter, transport, legal help and other support to many Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse across the country. 

Opus Bono Sacerdotii, would reportedly work out of a series of unmarked buildings in Dryden, Michigan, providing money, shelter, transport, legal help and other support to hundreds of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse across the country

Stripped of their collars and cassocks, they went unnoticed in the small town of Dryden as they were escorted into a dingy warehouse across from an elementary school playground, the Associated Press reported at the time. 

Secretive Catholic group, Opus Bono, which operates out of Michigan has served as a ‘rapid-response’ team for priests who have been accused of sexual abuse

When a serial pedophile was sent to jail for abusing dozens of minors, Opus Bono was there for him, with regular visits and commissary cash.

When a priest admitted sexually assaulting boys under 14, Opus Bono raised funds for his defense.

When another priest was criminally charged with abusing a teen, Opus Bono later made him a legal adviser.

At the time, leaders of the church denied having any official relationship with the group.

In May, a church in New Mexico was subjected to pay a settlement agreement of $121.5 million to settle a bankruptcy case caused by sex abuse scandals. The scandals involved 375 victims against 74 priests in the state.

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