Papal Plea for Forgiveness Benedict Must Follow through with Reforms, The StarLedger , June 16, 2010

Papal Plea for Forgiveness: Benedict Must Follow through with Reforms

The Star-Ledger
June 16, 2010

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/06/papal_plea_for_forgiveness_ben.html

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican before a mass on June 11, 2010. He begged for forgiveness for the church's sex scandals.

Give Pope Benedict XVI some credit. At a ceremony Friday in St. Peter’s Square marking the end of the Year of the Priest, the pope publicly asked forgiveness for the church’s sex abuse scandal.

St. Peter’s Square is the Vatican equivalent of the Oval Office of the White House. It’s the place to send as strong a message as possible with all the prestige — and muscle — of the office behind it.

It was long overdue. For too long the Catholic Church put the careers and reputations of guilty priests ahead of their victims. The awful stories of predatory and unpunished priests and the children they victimized have been unspooling in the United States over the past 25 years. Similar scandals have now come to light in Germany and Ireland.

The Catholic Church has paid a steep price for not promptly investigating and penalizing criminal priests, many of whom were merely shuffled off to other parishes. Church attendance continues to fall, and American dioceses, forced to pay large sums in scandal-related law suits, have gone bankrupt.

The pope has to do more. He said priests will be more thoroughly vetted and monitored, but offered no specifics. And before forgiveness comes accountability, for the crime and its cover-up. A speech, even in St. Peter’s Square, is not enough.