THE
Catholic Church has to find what is wrong with its message and with
Christian life in general following the widespread sexual abuse of
children by priests, the pope said Monday.
He said the Church must better train priests so that
abusers are not ordained and must work out how to help victims of
paedophile priests heal.
The Pope made the remarks to Vatican cardinals and bishops gathered for his traditional Christmas speech.
The Pope said revelations of abuse in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" that required the Church to accept the "humiliation" as a call for renewal.
"We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred," he said. "We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our message, in our entire way of configuring the Christian being, that allowed such a thing to occur. We must find a new determination in faith and goodness."
The Pope has already admitted that the scandal was the result of sin within the Church and it must repent and make amends with victims. But yesterday’s comments suggested there might be some intrinsic problem with the way Christianity and its message is understood in the modern world that allowed the abuse to fester unchecked.
The sex abuse scandal erupted on a global scale this year with revelations of thousands of victims in Europe and beyond, of bishops who covered up for paedophile priests and of Vatican officials who ignored the crimes.
Questions were raised about how the pope himself handled cases both as archbishop in Munich and as head of the Vatican office that handled abuse cases.
Recently, the Vatican released documentation showing that as early as 1988 then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sought to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who raped and molested children in a bid to get around church law that made it exceedingly difficult to defrock priests against their will.
Although he was unsuccessful then, Vatican rules now allow for fast-track defrocking for abusers. Victims’ advocates say the Vatican still has a long way to go in terms of requiring bishops to report sex crimes to police and release information and documentation about known paedophiles.
"We know of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and our corresponding responsibility," the pope said.
But he said the crimes of the priests also had to be looked at in the broader social context, in which child pornography and sexual tourism is rampant and to some degree considered normal, and where as recently as the 1970s paedophilia was not considered the absolute evil that it is today.
"The psychological devastation of children, in which human beings are reduced to a marketplace article, is a terrifying sign of the times," he said.
The Pope made the remarks to Vatican cardinals and bishops gathered for his traditional Christmas speech.
The Pope said revelations of abuse in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" that required the Church to accept the "humiliation" as a call for renewal.
"We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred," he said. "We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our message, in our entire way of configuring the Christian being, that allowed such a thing to occur. We must find a new determination in faith and goodness."
The Pope has already admitted that the scandal was the result of sin within the Church and it must repent and make amends with victims. But yesterday’s comments suggested there might be some intrinsic problem with the way Christianity and its message is understood in the modern world that allowed the abuse to fester unchecked.
The sex abuse scandal erupted on a global scale this year with revelations of thousands of victims in Europe and beyond, of bishops who covered up for paedophile priests and of Vatican officials who ignored the crimes.
Questions were raised about how the pope himself handled cases both as archbishop in Munich and as head of the Vatican office that handled abuse cases.
Recently, the Vatican released documentation showing that as early as 1988 then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sought to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who raped and molested children in a bid to get around church law that made it exceedingly difficult to defrock priests against their will.
Although he was unsuccessful then, Vatican rules now allow for fast-track defrocking for abusers. Victims’ advocates say the Vatican still has a long way to go in terms of requiring bishops to report sex crimes to police and release information and documentation about known paedophiles.
"We know of the particular gravity of this sin committed by priests and our corresponding responsibility," the pope said.
But he said the crimes of the priests also had to be looked at in the broader social context, in which child pornography and sexual tourism is rampant and to some degree considered normal, and where as recently as the 1970s paedophilia was not considered the absolute evil that it is today.
"The psychological devastation of children, in which human beings are reduced to a marketplace article, is a terrifying sign of the times," he said.
SIC: IEX/IE