Pope Benedict Won't Meet with Sex Abuse Victims
In the Catholic Church's version of "see no evil, hear no evil" church officials have decided that Pope Benedict XVI will not meet with or address the priest abuse scandal when he arrives in the United States for his first papal visit later this month. If the news wasn't bad enough, his advisers have clumsily spoken to the press adding fuel to the raging fire.
The Vatican insists that any meeting with the victims would reopen old wounds, and several senior aides have indicated that they felt the matter was "now closed".
Monsignor Pietro Sambi, the papal ambassador to the US who was in charge of planning the trip, said the Pope would turn 81 in America, and did not have the strength to visit Boston. "He just can't go everywhere," he said.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's second-in-command, said the church had already "responded with great dignity" to the situation, and added that the "clamour created in the US around this scandal is really unbearable".
Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, said the media had "exaggerated" the issue of paedophile priests.
I guess the Pope's decided to bury his head in the sand, hoping this will just blow over. It's surely not a very smart public relations move and an even more thoughtless pastoral move. Here he is on his first visit to the United States as Pope and he refuses to confront the greatest issue facing the church in America since the Second Vatican Council. I wonder if he received any advice from the American bishops or cardinals. At least, they were smart enough to keep their thoughts to themselves and not broadcast them to the media.