Former Pope Benedict has denied that he tried to cover up
s*xual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests, in his
first direct published comments since he stepped down in
February.
The comments, which a victims group rejected, were made
in an 11-page letter to Italian author and mathematician
Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who had written a book about the
problems facing the Church before the pope resigned in
February.
“As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by
priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with
profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these
things,” said Benedict, who now has the title Emeritus Pope.
Excerpts of the letter were published in the Rome
newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday with the former
pope’s permission.
Victims groups have accused Benedict of not doing enough
to stop the abuse of children by priests while he was pope
and before when he was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal
office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(CDF).
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)
rejected his assertion.
“In the Church’s entire history, no one knew more but did
less to protect kids than Benedict,” SNAP said in statement.
“As head of CDF, thousands of cases of predator
priests crossed his desk. Did he choose to warn families or
call police about even one of those dangerous clerics? No.
That, by definition, is a cover up,” the SNAP statement said.
Victims groups say there is much still to be discovered about
how the Church behaved in the past and want more
bishops who were aware of abuse to be held responsible.
[AlJazeera]
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