Stringsinger, the Vatican hasn't sentenced anyone to any serious penalty for, like, a hundred fifty years - and it wasn't even the Vatican at the time, since the center of power at the time was the Lateran Palace. That was a different time, and people thought differently then. I can't defend their actions - but it was a long, long, time ago.
Whatever the case, your argument is about 150 years out of date. Time to find a new one, wouldn't you think?
I can't defend the more recent actions of the five to ten percent of priests who molested children in recent years, either. Nonetheless, the actions of long ago and those by a recent minority do not invalidate the right of other Catholics to speak against injustice.

-Joe Offer-