Aust Divided over Pope's Handling of Abuse

9 News
February 12, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/02/12/08/01/church-unlikely-to-change-with-pope-lucas

Australians are sharply divided over Pope Benedict XVI's legacy on the vexed issue of church sexual abuse.

Supporters are hailing his efforts, but critics denounce his reign as one of concealment and cover-up.

The 85-year-old pontiff's surprise decision to retire comes as Australia embarks on a three-year royal commission into child abuse, which victim groups have urged other nations to follow.

Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin, a PhD student studying sexual assault in the Catholic Church, said the Pope had been "absolutely appalling" in his handling of the global issue.

"There's no doubt there's been that culture of (the Catholic Church) protecting their assets and protecting their name by concealment and cover-up," Ms Courtin told AAP on Tuesday.

"He has no doubt entrenched that culture and it's a terrible crime."

Ms Courtin said there was no point trying to get the Catholic Church to change, or to rely on a new Pope for leadership.

Helen Last, director of the victims support group In Good Faith, said Pope Benedict had used the church's ancient Canon laws and internal processes when complaints needed to be dealt with by police.

She said clerical and religious offenders still held positions of power in the church, which had not been co-operating with criminal authorities.

But Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said it was "simply wrong" to suggest the retiring Pope didn't do enough to address the abuse issue.

"Has he done enough? No, none of us has done enough," the archbishop told ABC TV.

"But that he has done a remarkable amount, both before he was Pope and as Pope, I think is undeniable."

Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally, a staunch Catholic who was the government's spokeswoman for World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008, which the Pope attended, said she had hoped to see more reform during his time in office.

"I hope the next Pope shows leadership in the face of the sexual abuse scandal, starts a period of renewal, builds the church so it is truly inclusive, honestly confronts crises and is transparent," she said.

The Bishop of Parramatta Anthony Fisher, who helped co-ordinate World Youth Day, remembered the Pope as a "great teacher" and "spiritual grandfather" to young people.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who met the Pope, said he understood concerns about the Catholic Church's slow action on historic child sexual abuse.

"It's fair to say that over many, many decades the Catholic hierarchy, without pointing to a particular individual, has been slow to recognise the dimensions of the problem, the depth of the problem and the necessity for action," he said.

Australia's most senior Catholic, Sydney Archbishop George Pell, will travel to Rome to help elect a new Pope, which insiders say could be Canadian Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Milan Angelo Scola or American Timothy Dolan.

Cardinal Pell, rated by bookmakers as a 66/1 outsider to become the new pope, said he was surprised by the first papal resignation for 600 years, but said Benedict always worked to do what was best for the church.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the Pope's decision a "genuinely historic" and emotional moment for the nation's Catholics.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott, a Catholic who once trained for the priesthood, said the spiritual leader of the world's one billion Catholics obviously had an "extraordinarily onerous job".

"It's hardly surprising that at the age of 85, after much soul searching, Pope Benedict should have decided to retire," he said.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said Benedict's resignation reflected the pace of modern life and could set a precedent.