Pope Admits Church Wasn't Vigilant Enough

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, SEPT. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Church was not sufficiently vigilant or sufficiently quick in responding to the problem of sexual abusers among clergy, Benedict XVI says.

The Pope made this affirmation today en route to Scotland for the first leg of his four-day trip to the United Kingdom. As is customary, he gave a press conference to a group of journalists on the flight with him.

Speaking of the sexual abuse scandal, he affirmed: "First of all I must say that these revelations were a shock to me, a great sadness; it is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. At the moment of ordination, the priest, prepared for years for this moment, says 'yes' to Christ to be his voice, his mouth, his hands. [...] How a man who has done and said this can then fall into this perversion is difficult to understand.

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Cardinal Kasper Admonishes Germans to Obey Holy Father

[Vatican] Germans must have more respect for "their" Pope, hear [obey] and try to understand him. With these words Walter Cardinal Kasper admonished his countrymen from Bishops to Theologians, from Priests to simple believers. In an interview with the German weekly Focus he noted, that abroad "many shake their heads about the manner and fashion, with which Germans handle the Pope from their own homeland."

A few days before the begin of the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Great Britain and his Pastoral trip to Scotland and England the German Curia Cardinal warned of an "aggressive atheism" in Great Britain. He criticized also that the British Airways employee was "discriminated" against, because she wore a cross. One employee had been forced to remove the cross, which she wore on a chain around her neck.

The Pope will, upon his visit in Scotland and England on an ecumenical level to bring about "heavy dialog" with the Anglicans, says the Cardinal. The Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman "will be no setback" for Ecumenism, said the Cardinal with conviction. He reviewed the Church's opposition to women's ordination with the observation: The Protestants 'don't have celibacy, but women pastors. Are you telling me they have it better?"


Link to original at Katholisches...