UNITED STATES
Fox News
By Christopher Snyder
Heard on Fox
Published October 24, 2013
The Catholic Church is more than 1 billion strong, but has been weakened in recent years by secularization and abuse scandals. While the church is growing globally, a recent Pew study found nearly one-third of Americans who were raised Catholic no longer practice the religion.
Fox News Chief Religion Correspondent Lauren Green asked former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney whether the Catholic Church is still the world’s moral authority.
Rooney says even with the child sex abuse, Vatileaks scandals and a declining number of faithful attending church each week, the church still has the power to lead. “The principles which compromise the Holy See’s diplomatic outreach are enduring … in many parts of the world where scandal hasn’t occurred … [the Catholic Church has] the greatest impact in areas that are marginalized, where Christians are persecuted, “said Rooney.
Pope Benedict XVI resigned as the leader of the Catholic Church in February 2013. Green asked if it
“I don’t think it was the scandals per say… you gotta remember that Benedict was part of the solution … he was the fella that changed the procedures to make sure that the Vatican would have a voice when these [sex abuse] cases came up and that Bishops wouldn’t be able to sweep them under the rug and avoid calling in the civil authorities,” said Rooney.
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