The Schadenfreude over the fall of Eliot Spitzer is based in something deep in the human condition, and it finds a weird echo in this story from Germany about a monk who got caught trying to steal gay-porn videos from a sex shop. This is basically a local crime story about a petty offense, but it went out over Agence France-Presse; and I learned about it from the extreme-right-wing Catholic website Novus Ordo Watch, which specializes in gleefully reporting every last peccadillo of those Catholics who persist in believing that Benedict XVI is actually the Pope. (Look! You see what happens if you follow the Vatican II heresies! You end up swiping gay porn for your massive porn collection at the monastery!) The AFP story delightedly noted that the monk was at “the 900-year-old Maria Laach Abbey.” (Look! You see what happens when you follow 900-year-old traditions! You end up becoming a porn addict and a sneak thief!) Before I get angry e-mails, let me point out I’m not claiming I’m immune to Schadenfreude myself. I just think I need to watch Into Great Silence again — and also to remember that God reaches out to people exactly when they are at their lowest, most sinful, and most humiliated.