Word: pope
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...more than a month, Pope Benedict XVI's silence has been driving the clergy sex-abuse crisis. His reference on Thursday to the need of "penance" for the church, which is "under attack," is unlikely to stem criticism. But this week, the Vatican's No. 2 man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, also took a stab at changing the narrative - and complicated matters...
...many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia," Bertone said during a press conference on Tuesday in Chile, where he was on a weeklong visit. "That is true. That is the problem." (See a viewpoint on how the Pope should respond to the sex-abuse scandal...
...perverse strategy by the Vatican to try to escape its own responsibility" for allowing abusive priests to go unchecked. More telling was criticism from within the church. U.S.-based Jesuit writer Father James Martin publicly took on Bertone, disputing the research behind the theory and pointing out that the Pope himself declined to cite a correlation between homosexuality and sex abuse of minors when asked by reporters on the papal plane in 2008. Finally, after the French embassy to the Holy See issued a rare statement on Wednesday condemning the "unacceptable" remark, the Vatican press office was forced to issue...
Vatican insiders say the brushup is the latest sign that the troubles in Rome run deeper than just the Pope's apparent difficulty in facing accusations about his role in the church's dark past on this issue. Blame often falls first on Bertone, whom Benedict plucked for the prime job in 2006, after the two had worked closely for many years in the Vatican doctrinal office. The Secretary of State job has enormous responsibility, essentially serving as Vatican Prime Minister, charged with making the wheels of the billion-strong church turn smoothly, while the Pope focuses on being shepherd...
Bertone has tried to exert his influence over the unwieldy Vatican bureaucracy by placing his trusted Italians in key positions and serving as the ultimate gatekeeper to the Pope, who has fewer direct meetings than his predecessor had and stays focused on his writings and continuing his work as guardian of church doctrine. "Bertone has a stranglehold over things," says the Vatican official critical of the No. 2 man. "But that may be what Pope wants...