Pope Benedict XVI Falls Short of Criticizing Vatican in Abuse Letter to Irish Church

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a letter strongly criticizing the Irish church. Specifically, the Pope took the Irish bishops to task as Benedict referred to the history of abuse of various types from 1930 to 1990. The Catholic Church's leader tried to console the victims, but it fell short of placing any blame on the Vatican for any role in historical cover-ups.

Nicole Winfield and Victor L. Simpson have posted an article titled "Pope slams Irish church, no Vatican blame in abuse." Their report tells us that Pope fell short of doing what the victims and victims' representatives were hoping that he would do. While Pope Benedict XVI did chastise those that were responsible or could have been responsible, he put no blame on the Vatican and instituted no punishments.

This lack of direct action disappointed the group "One in Four" that represents clerical abuse victims. They issued a statement as reflected in Winfield's and Simpson's report stating "If the church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial." This was specifically in reference to its failure to take any responsibility.

Those defending the letter said it was "pastoral" trying to bring reconciliation rather as an investigative and punishing piece.

At the heart of the matter is that when priests and other church officials molested children, and the emphasis is on sexual abuse, their superiors protected them from civil authorities. For example if a priest molested a child, a bishop may send them somewhere else to get them out of harms way.

It is difficult to see the Church being very effective in this issue. You must keep in mind that we're dealing with issues between 1930 and 1990. Certainly many violators and victims are long dead. Further there are probably few records of many situations and even fewer effective and accurate reco0rds.

In that time frame no doubt the words of children were not taken seriously. This was a period for the most part where kids should be "seen and not heard."

The Irish Church is angry that they are being highlighted when they see the problem as a global one and they are probably right.

The Pope did direct that an investigation should take place.

I do think there is a little more problem with leaders in the Catholic Church but having said that we must remember that they have incredibly large numbers so perhaps on a percentage basis they are not as bad as they seem.

References:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100320/ap_on_re_eu/eu_church_abuse_pope