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...Pope's defenders say he has tried hard to force the church to confront its demons openly. "As Pope, he has been unusually and laudably aggressive in dealing with abusers," says David Gibson, author of a Benedict biography. Benedict has on several occasions called for "absolute transparency" on sexual abuse. During a visit to Washington, D.C., in 2008, he met in private with some victims of abuse by American priests. But he has been remarkably unforthcoming about the latest scandals. If the Pope does reveal his feelings about the current upheaval, it may be in writing: he said he would...
...Update: On March 20, Benedict's letter was read to Catholic Church congregations throughout Ireland and Europe. It rebuked the actions of the Irish hierarchy for "grave errors of judgment" but said nothing about the Vatican's responsibility in the scandal, which saw the alleged abuse of thousands of children over seven decades. The Pope, however, did apologize for the suffering of the Irish. "It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church," the Pope wrote. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel...
...reluctance to speak out surprises and hurts many Catholics. "Many Catholics in Germany had hoped that the Pope would have expressed a word of personal sympathy for the victims of abuse," says Christian Weisner, spokesman for the well-known Catholic reform group We Are Church. Papal officials, however, defend Benedict's silence. "The Pope was not part of what happened back then, and he shouldn't be part of it now," says a Vatican insider. Indeed, the Vatican has mounted an aggressive campaign to portray the scandals as an attempt to besmirch the Pope and discredit the church...
Trouble in the Old World The chain of scandals now tightening around the Vatican began in Ireland last year with the publication of two government-commissioned reports concerning sexual abuse by priests and at schools and orphanages run by the church. Four of Ireland's 24 bishops offered their resignation. Since then, the Irish Primate, Cardinal Sean Brady, has admitted he met two young victims of a pedophile priest in 1975 and asked them to sign an oath of silence. The priest went on to molest children for almost two decades before being arrested and sent to prison. Brady...
...late January, when the rector of Canisius College in Berlin admitted there had been at least 50 alleged cases of sexual abuse at the élite Jesuit high school in the 1970s and '80s. The charges came as a surprise; Catholics in mainland Europe rarely challenge the priesthood. "The church was always more tightly controlled in Europe," says Gibson. "There's not the same kind of legal and journalistic advocacy as in the U.S." But the Canisius College scandal opened the floodgates; with at least 300 allegations of abuse, it's now estimated that two-thirds of Germany...