Pope Slams Church Over Child Abuse

Tag: usa
Pope Benedict XVI has told an audience of bishops in the US that the scandal of paedophilia and sex abuse in the Church had sometimes been "very badly handled". His words, spoken at the Immaculate Conception shrine, marked the second day in a row that he has talked of the crimes that have cost the American church more than �1bn in compensation to victims over the past six years.

The pontiff called the scandal a cause of "deep shame", and spoke of the "enormous pain" that communities have suffered from such "gravely immoral behaviour" by priests.

However, he also brought up what he saw as problems in the wider world, saying the media were to blame for broadcasting unsuitable material.

"What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" he asked.

The pope spoke after Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who is the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Cardinal George said the consequences of the clergy abuse scandal "and of its being sometimes very badly handled by bishops makes both the personal faith of some Catholics and the public life of the church herself more problematic".

Pope Benedict agreed with that assessment.

"Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as the president of your episcopal conference has indicated, it was sometimes very badly handled," he said.

The German-born pope began his first full day in America with a visit to the White House, where a South Lawn crowd of more than 13,500 sang "Happy Birthday".

He has held private talks with George Bush, with whom he agreed that terrorism is an unacceptable weapon for any cause or religion.

The two leaders also share common ground in opposing terrorism, abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

But they disagree over the war in Iraq, the death penalty and the US trade embargo against Cuba.


Tag: pope-benedict-xvi
Tag: francis-george
Tag: us-conference-of-catholic-bishops
Tag: chicago

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