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Pope Benedict is finally commenting on the behavior of the Church over their handling of the multitudes of sexual abuse cases that have haunted the Vatican for decades and damaged scores of children in the process.

SF Chronicle:

After weeks of futile damage control, the Vatican is headed in a more honest direction. Pope Benedict XVI is promising to end the church's disgraceful dodging of a worldwide scandal over sex abuse of children by priests.

The pope held an emotional meeting with abuse victims on a trip to Malta and later told a public gathering in St. Peter's Square that the church would take action. The details remain vague, but Benedict's acknowledgement of the problem and need for solutions is a huge step forward.

It shouldn't have taken this long. After years of turmoil over sex abuse in this country, accounts of mistreatment surfaced in Europe and South America.

It was a familiar pattern: a church hierarchy that transferred predator priests and avoided responsibility.

The Vatican's first reaction was as disheartening as the reports of abuse. The church denounced the media and other critics. It played the bureaucracy card, suggesting it was a problem for local bishops, not Rome.

The furor deepened amid reports that Benedict, while a church leader in Germany, overlooked warnings about an abusive priest. In the face of these troubles, the pope said little beyond the need for Catholics to "do penance."...read on

The outside pressure finally got to the Vatican and forced Pope Benedict to respond publicly, which is something he's tried to avoid up until now. It's a sad state when the Infallible has to admit to the disgrace that the church has allowed to fester because of their Mob-like approach. We'll see what they do, but we can only "pray" that they do take all the necessary steps that keep these priests' hands off children, and if a molestation does happen, not to pass the pedophile onto another unsuspecting parish.

But the following story isn't very helpful to making their new promises even sound credible. From the Daily Dish:

In Australia, the police are increasingly frustrated at the Catholic church's refusal to fire abusive and rapist priests.

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VICTORIA Police has called for sweeping changes to the way Melbourne's Catholic Church deals with sex crime allegations, as The Age reveals that only one priest has been defrocked for abuse in the past 14 years. Nearly 300 allegations of sexual abuse have been substantiated by church investigations since 1996, when the ''Melbourne Response'' was set up to deal with complaints. It is believed the abuses were perpetrated by approximately 100 priests, a figure the church will not confirm. Just one priest has been defrocked as a result.

Well, the story came out one day before the Pope made his new pledge, so I guess he's covered his bases. Yeah, right.

The heat is finally getting to the Vatican because they finally posted guidelines on their website to add some clarity on the issue of how they should handle sex abuse case.

An issue that should not need any clarity at all.

The Vatican responded Monday to allegations that it had concealed years of clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and other high-ranking clerics should report such crimes to police if required by law.

Victims have charged that the Catholic Church created what amounted to a conspiracy to cover up abuse by keeping allegations that priests raped and molested children secret and not reporting them to civil authorities.

The Vatican has insisted that it has long been the Catholic Church's policy for bishops, like all Christians, to obey civil laws. In a new guide for lay readers posted on its Web site, the Vatican explicitly spells out such a policy.

''Civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed,'' the Vatican guidelines said.

That phrase was not included in a draft of the guidelines obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The rest of the guidelines follow previously known and public procedures for handling canonical investigations and trials of suspected abuse...read on

The Vatican offered no explanation for the addition.

Doesn't that make everyone feel so much better? Ross Douthat actually tries to make the case that the new Pope is better than the old Pope because the abuses happened under his watch.

The church’s dilatory response to the sex abuse scandals was a testament to these weaknesses. So was John Paul’s friendship with the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. The last pope loved him and defended him. But we know now that Father Maciel was a sexually voracious sociopath. And thanks to a recent exposé by The National Catholic Reporter’s Jason Berry, we know the secret of Maciel’s Vatican success: He was an extraordinary fund-raiser, and those funds often flowed to members of John Paul’s inner circle. Only one churchman comes out of Berry’s story looking good: Joseph Ratzinger.

Berry recounts how Ratzinger lectured to a group of Legionary priests, and was subsequently handed an envelope of money “for his charitable use.” The cardinal “was tough as nails in a very cordial way,” a witness said, and turned the money down.

Sorry, no sale. So Ratzinger didn't take an envelope with cash. The fact that he was handed an envelope stuffed with money shows how the Catholic church was operating like a group from a Mario Puzo novel rather than a religious institution.

And MoDo makes sense in her latest column about being a woman and living as a Catholic. Worlds Without Women

When I was in Saudi Arabia, I had tea and sweets with a group of educated and sophisticated young professional women.

I asked why they were not more upset about living in a country where women’s rights were strangled, an inbred and autocratic state more like an archaic men’s club than a modern nation. They told me, somewhat defensively, that the kingdom was moving at its own pace, glacial as that seemed to outsiders.

How could such spirited women, smart and successful on every other level, acquiesce in their own subordination?

I was puzzling over that one when it hit me: As a Catholic woman, I was doing the same thing.

Continue reading »

The Massachusetts congressional delegation Friday sent a letter to a Pennsylvania senator demanding an apology for what they called his "outrageous, erroneous and insensitive" comments in a column linking Boston's liberalism to the clergy sex abuse scandal. We are deeply disturbed that you would offend Massachusetts by using an abuse scandal, one that has been mirrored in your state and in others, to score cheap political points with far right political groups," said the 10 lawmakers in a letter to Sen. Rick Santorum. A spokesman for Santorum said Friday that the senator stands by his comments.

Santorum will never apologize on this one. Let's ask his Communications Director and see what he thinks.

A Chicago leader of a group of victims abused by priests plans to travel to Rome today to protest the participation of ousted Boston Cardinal Bernard Law in funeral services for Pope John Paul II. Barbara Blaine of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will be part of a group protesting the inclusion of Law, who resigned from the Boston archdiocese in 2002 amid the unfolding priest sex abuse scandal. Law had reassigned priests despite abuse allegations against them.

Still a cardinal with a vote for pope, Law will preside over one of nine daily masses Monday at the Rome church where John Paul II appointed him archpriest. "Our concern is that many Catholics going there don't know the history with Cardinal Law and that's why we want to inform them," Blaine said.