I'm Sure its Act of Contrition Statistics Are Equally Impressive

Der Spiegel reports that the sovereign Vatican has the highest per capita crime rate in the world:

The tiny nation's justice department in 2006 had to contend with 341 civil and 486 criminal cases. In a population of 492, that measures out to 1.5 cases per person -- twenty times the corresponding rate in Italy.

Most of that, of course, comes from tourists, not full-time residents. Bill Donohue does not appear to have weighed in on this yet. Tim Cavanaugh surveyed the farthest reaches of the anti-defamation-of-anyone movements in our Dec. 2002 issue, and the Catholic Church is prominently featured therein.

UPDATE: And the Vatican has held this grim record for a long time--as noted way back in 2003 by Jesse Walker on this very page.