Freeh Report Reveals Massive Corruption at Penn State. Should Paterno Have a Corpse Trial?
An extensive report detailing the lack of moral fortitude on the part of Penn State Football coaches and university administration was released today. The report claimed that former head coach Joe Paterno knowingly covered up Jerry Sandusky’s rape of young children.
Unfortunately for the public, Joe Paterno will never have to face these charges in the court of law because he “conveniently” died earlier this year. Fortunately, there is precedent for this sort of situation.
The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial or, in Latin, the Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Catholic Pope Formosus, held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January of 897.[1]
The trial was conducted by Formosus’s successor, Pope Stephen (VI) VII. Stephen accused Formosus of perjury and of having acceded to the papacy illegally. At the end of the trial, Formosus was pronounced guilty and his papacy retroactively declared null. The Cadaver Synod is remembered as one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the medival papacy.
Considering that Paterno claimed to be a devout Catholic, this would be the appropriate route to pursue at this point.
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