Benedict's record on abuse: all talk and no action (National Catholic Recorder)

[IndianaGreen]

Benedict's record on abuse: all talk and no action

Mar. 19, 2010
By David Clohessy

Well, let's look clearly at Benedict's track record, as pope, on clergy sex crimes and cover ups. He has done three things.

Once, after substantially watering down an already vague and weak proposal, he belatedly and begrudgingly approved the U.S. bishops' 2002 child sex abuse policy.

Twice, in carefully choreographed circumstances, he sat in the same room with and talked with a few hand-picked victims.

And twice, he "disciplined" credibly accused child molesting clerics (one of whom, after multiple allegations and years of delay, was "invited" to live a life of prayer while the Vatican made only the most oblique reference to his actual crimes).

That's it. That's all. Everything else is just talk.

Well, words are powerful, aren't they? Of course, but words are what we use when we're powerless. And with pedophile priest and complicit bishops, the pope is anything but powerless.

When it comes to world peace, hunger, inequality, poverty, AIDS, natural disasters, the pope talks and writes, as he should. He has little, if any, influence over these catastrophes.

But with clergy sex crimes and cover ups, he sits atop a clear, ancient, rigid, hierarchical structure. He's the king, and has nearly limitless power.

But in the greatest crisis the church has faced in modern times, Benedict acts not like a mighty monarch, but like a lowly serf.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/benedicts-record-abuse-all-talk-and-no-action