Addressing thousands of priests in Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI pleaded forgiveness for a church scarred by various sexual abuse scandals, and assured the public that the church would do all it good to prevent priests from abusing children in the future.
“We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict said during a speech made to mark celebrations of the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest.
However, Pope Benedict did not specify exactly what actions would be taken as many have been hoping for, nor did his remarks go any further than remarks he has already made in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with sexual abuse victims on Malta in April.
It was the first time that that Benedict had asked forgiveness for the crisis from St. Peter’s Square, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests.
The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,” or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.”
“And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope added.
He said that in admitting and training men for the priesthood, “We will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers.”
Various victims groups felt that the Pope did not go far enough. The lay Catholic group BishopAccountability.org, described the pope’s remarks as “a great disappointment and a squandered opportunity.”
It called on the pope to “endorse and facilitate certain external measures that would increase transparency and advance justice,” including posting all abuse cases handled by the Vatican on the Vatican Web site and ordering “his bishops to cooperate fully with secular investigations, not oppose them.”
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