Pope Benedict's pastoral letter in response to the child abuse scandals in the Church in Ireland will express his "complete abhorrence" of the crime and call on Catholic clergy and laity to renew Gospel values within the Church. In a preview of the pontiff's letter expected on Ash Wednesday, Irish Catholic editor Garry O'Sullivan quoted church sources saying the Pope will also "acknowledge the tremendous contribution of the Irish to the church worldwide - from the time of the golden age of monasticism to the modern missionary movement", the IrishCentral website reports.
"The Pope will express his complete abhorrence at clerical child sexual abuse. There may well be a call for a proper understanding of proper sexual health among clergy but also in society, and a restatement of the church's position on healthy sexual morality," Mr O'Sullivan said in an article in The Irish Times.
"He will commend the child protection initiatives taken to date and ask that they be brought to fruition within the church.
"Finally, he will call on the whole Irish church to sit in fellowship and ask that the Gospel be preached by clergy and religious, working together with the laity in order to bring about the renewal of Gospel values and faith in the Irish church," Mr O'Sullivan said.
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