BishopAccountability.org
	Why Criticize the Pope? By Johann Christoph Arnold Houma Today March 19, 2010 http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100320/LETTERS/100329995/1030/OPINION?Title=Why-criticize-the-pope-&tc=ar The attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the scandal surrounding pedophile priests in Germany should stop. As head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope naturally bears some responsibility for the actions of the authorities under him. But this campaign by the media and anti-Christian liberals is hardly a righteous one. Its real aim is to drive God out of the public sphere and to undermine an institution that, despite its many problems, is one of the few remaining pillars of reverence and respect in society. I am not Catholic but have met the man who is now Pope Benedict on several occasions and found him to be a God-fearing person who has one longing: to serve Jesus and his church. I sensed in him the sort of conviction that springs from a deep personal faith. This conviction has been labeled “conservatism” and has aroused great hatred. If anything, this hatred emboldens me to stand by the Pope and pray that he continues to fight evil with good. Abuse of minors by Catholic clergymen is a very real plague, and I can well understand the fury unleashed by reports of one cover-up after another. But child abuse is not a Catholic problem. It is a societal one that implicates everyone who has bought into the myth of sexual “freedom” promoted by today’s fashion and entertainment industries. Jesus said that if anyone misleads a child, it would be better for him to be drowned with a millstone around his neck. But he also invited anyone without guilt to cast the first stone. When I was six or seven, I experienced physical abuse in school, at the hands of adults I loved and trusted. Decades later, while working on my book “Why Forgive?,” I interviewed many people who had survived much more horrific abuse. In every case, they had found healing only through forgiving their tormentors — which is exactly what I found, too. Because of this, I can well understand the pain and anger of fellow victims that drives their lawsuits. Yet I doubt they will find peace through settling their scores in a court of law. It is one thing to incriminate an offender. But only forgiveness can bring true healing to the heart.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.