Pope Benedict arrived in the UK today and on his way in the airplane, he made a pronouncement about the sexual abuse scandal.
He said, "These revelations were for me a shock and a great sadness. It is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly ministry was possible," he told reporters aboard his plane to Scotland. "How a man who has done this and said this can fall into this perversion is difficult to understand."
He went on to add: "It is also a great sadness that the authorities of the church were not sufficiently vigilant and insufficiently quick and decisive in taking the necessary measures."
From my perspective, the pope has been personally hurt by the abuse scandals. He is a very holy and humble man and when he heard about these things, he was very sad for the victims.
Obviously though his comments were not enough for certain groups. SNAP, the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests, called the pontiff's remarks "disingenuous" and said he didn't go far enough.
I doubt the pope would ever be able to do enough to appease certain groups. I think the pope has done everything possible to ensure the safety of children and punish wrongdoers.
He first arrived in Edinburgh to meet with the Queen. At around 12ET today, the pope will celebrate Mass at Bellahouston Park, in Glasgow, Scotland.
No comments:
Post a Comment