As far as I'm concerned any religious leader that injects themselves into politics should loose their tax exempt status.
And that isn't directed solely at the Catholic religion.
As pointed out, the Pope isn't subject to U.S. tax laws so that's kind of a bs threat.
Beyond that we need to be really careful about allowing government to exert control over churches with the threat of withholding tax exempt status. As the saying goes, the power to tax is the power to destroy. The "separation of church and state" in the constitution is there for keeping government from interfering with the churches not the other way around. Churches need to be free to speak out about moral issues without fear of reprisal from government. We're already seeing calls from democratic politicians to go after churches tax exempt status when churches speak out against homosexual marriage and abortion. Much of the left's agenda is in direct contradiction with traditional Christian morality and I really don't want the next democratic administration to be able to shut down Christian opposition the next time some homo decides pedophilia should be legalized by taxing the church into oblivion.
