By Yael T. Abouhalkah
Midwest Voices
December 12, 2009
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6870
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| Pope Benedict XVI |
Pope Benedict XVI had the chance Friday to take aggressive action to punish Catholic archbishops and priests involved in disgusting pedophile cases in Ireland. But the Pope shamefully punted.
Oh, he apologized for the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, and for the decades-long cover-up by the archbishops.
Benedict said he "shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland." And he's praying for the victims.
That's fine as far as it goes.
However, the Pope failed to take concrete steps to show these victims the Catholic Church is serious about ridding itself of pedophiles and others who have allowed the molestation of boys and girls to occur for many years.
Demanding the resignations of four archbishops at the heart of the scandal would have been a good start.
Benedict's meeting Friday in Vatican City with Ireland's top two Catholic leaders came several weeks after a report was released. It said archbishops had concealed repeated abuse by priests over the years and never told police about the crimes.
Here's one heart-wrenching passage from the AFP News Service:
"One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another confessed that he had abused children on a fortnightly basis over 25 years."
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