Here's a fascinating thread on a vital topic for Catholics: how does the act of torture render it more grave a sin than many others?
My argument that torture, as an anti-liturgy of absolute power which attacks the body of Christ itself, should be met with excommunication is by no means an argument for the use of excommunication in general for other types of sin. This is torture, not theft or masturbation. If accepted, my argument would limit excommunication, to keep it from being used in the service of right-wing ecclesiastical politics. Furthermore, formal excommunication is not the only key to the church's visibility. It is not so much a solution as a recognition that something has gone terribly wrong.
And when the Pope came to America and shook the hand of a president who authorized torture, he was betraying the victims. Just as he betrayed the victims of sexual abuse. The Catholic silence on this, compared with, say, making contraceptives available under Obamacare, seems to me to be very eloquent about the collapse of the hierarchy's moral standing.
The Dish 