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	Pope's Bold Message on Clerical Child Abuse Times of Malta June 21, 2010 http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100621/opinion/editorial At the closing Mass of the Year for Priests, referring to the fact that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests had come to light, particularly the abuse of the little ones, Pope Benedict XVI made a very significant declaration. It reflects his determination to address everything related to child abuse by priests with all the courage that it requires. The Holy Father said: "We insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey." Benedict XVI, who, during the past months, has consistently done his utmost to show, by word and deed, that he recognises the existence of the problem, wants to confront it and is sensitive to the drama of the victims of the abuses, told priests: "Let us look upon all that happened as a summons to purification, as a task which we bring to the future and which makes us acknowledge and love all the more the great gift we have received from God." The Pope's fresh pronouncement is further confirmation that the Church has realised that more damage is caused to it if cases of child abuse within her fold are covered up than when they are dealt with. A very significant realistic recent statement on the matter was a Pentecost Letter by the Archbishop of Canberra, Australia, precisely on sexual abuse of the young in the Catholic Church titled Seeing The Faces, Hearing The Voices. Referring to the survivors of sexual abuse in the Church and elsewhere, Archbishop Mark Coleridge said: "For too long they were unseen and unheard. To see their faces and hear their voices has taken people like me a tragically long time. But, at least, now we can see their faces and hear their voices, even if we have no quick fix for the devastation we see and hear." Admitting that the story of sexual abuse of the young within the Church has been the greatest drama of his 36 years in the priesthood, the Archbishop of Canberra unfolded to his flock and the whole world his own story of growing awareness of the reality. "The story is mine but I suspect it is not unlike the story of many," said Archbishop Coleridge in his long, very frank document. "I speak in retrospect but with no illusions about the present or the future. I cannot say that abuse of the young is not still happening in the Church, nor that it will not happen in the future. What I can say is that the bitter lessons of the past have made it more likely that I and the Church will deal sensitively with abuse and its aftermath now and in the future." During the Year for Priests, the Church has been pounded mightily because of clerical sexual child abuse. The Church now appears to be moving slowly and painfully towards a new moment.
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