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	PSNI to Investigate Clerical Sex Abuse RTE News April 1, 2010 http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0401/abuse1.html The PSNI has established a specialised investigation team to look into complaints of clerical sexual abuse against Catholic clergy. Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr has said that in the light of the number and nature of recent allegations the force was setting up a dedicated investigations team under the Serious Crime Branch. This is the branch of the PSNI which has also carried out investigations into suspected dissident republican activities. ACC Kerr said the PSNI would play its part in bringing to justice those responsible for clerical sexual abuse but he said there was also a need for a wider response among statutory agencies to address the allegations. Meanwhile the Bishop of Derry has apologised to the victims of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy. Dr Seamus Hegarty said the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by priests and religious figures was a source of great shame and heinous. Meanwhile, the head of US bishops has defended the Pope's record fighting sex abuse. Archbishop Francis George said 'It was Pope Benedict who gave us, in different ways, the ability to handle this crisis more quickly and in a way that helps to heal.' Archbishop George said the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), 'enabled us to keep the predators out of the priesthood permanently in ways that were not possible before and encouraged us to reach out to victims.' Pope Benedict headed the CDF for 24 years from 1981 until 2005. Paedophile priest scandals have erupted in Italy, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and the pope's native Germany, while Ireland and the United States have been rocked by claims of Church cover-ups of abuse committed decades ago. Pope Benedict himself has come under intense pressure with allegations that, as archbishop of Munich and later as the chief Vatican enforcer of Catholic doctrine and morals, he failed to act against priests accused of child abuse. Last Tuesday, a lawyer went to a US court seeking to have Pope Benedict questioned on what the Vatican knew about the long-running scandal.
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