The Sun [United Kingdom]
October 2, 2006
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006450594,00.html
The Pope led a plot to cover up child sex abuse by priests, a TV documentary claimed last night.
He sent a secret letter to Catholic bishops advising them to keep victims and abusers quiet rather than report crimes to police, said Panorama.
The document, from 2001 when the Pope was still Cardinal Ratzinger, tells bishops to threaten to excommunicate victims who speak out, said the BBC programme.
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| Pope ... 'secret letter' |
Some have been given hush money, it claimed.
The documentary, which also accused the Church of harbouring paedophile priests, was presented by Colm O'Gorman who was raped by a priest when he was 14.
He said: "We obtained the cover-up letter which clearly shows Ratzinger's signature at the bottom."
Last night the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, called the claims "false and misleading".
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