A Church in Crisis, William Crawley, BBC News, April 26, 2010

A Church in Crisis

By William Crawley
BBC News
April 26, 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/04/a_church_in_crisis.html

Pope Benedict is facing unprecedented scutiny following allegations that he is personally implicated in the Catholic Church's mishandling of child abuse reports. This week alone, three bishops have resigned as a consequence of their roles in the crisis. In Ireland, five bishops have resigned in the past year in the wake of state enquiries into the church's mismanagement of abuse allegations. To say the least, these are uncharted waters for the Catholic church.

Tonight, Radio 4 'investigates the Pope's track record in dealing with paedophile priests. When he was elected, Pope Benedict XVI promised to rid his Church of "filth", but he now stands accused of covering up abuse and failing to protect children from paedophile priests. In The Report this week, Simon Cox examines claims that the Pope mishandled two key cases - the first during his time as Archbishop of Munich and the second while leading the Vatican watchdog responsible for dealing with clerical abuse.' You can listen to The Report on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 8.30 pm (and listen to the podcast here).

And tomorrow night, on BBC One Northern Ireland, I report for Spotlight on the crisis that threatens to overwhelm Ireland's Catholic primate, Cardinal Sean Brady.