Pope's sex-scandals fury

THE POPE yesterday delivered a withering attack on paedophile priests.

He said he was “deeply grieved” by the child-sex scandals rocking the US Catholic church and accused its leaders of making mistakes and allowing the acts to continue.

“The abuse that caused this crisis is rightly considered a crime by society. It is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God,” he told the 12 US cardinals at a Vatican summit.

And he declared: “People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.”

Catholic authorities in the US have repeatedly ignored or covered up clear evidence of child abuse by priests and rarely have any been punished.

But the problem doesn’t just exist in America.

Thousands of Catholic children around the world have been sexually abused only for the Church to cover it up and protect the abusers.

It has led to fears that the writing may be on the wall for the Roman Catholic Church as the scandals drive away the faithful.

Last year, the number of Catholics at Sunday mass in England and Wales is thought to have fallen below one million for the first time since records began.

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Showdown ... cardinals and Vatican officials meet yesterday

Just 15 years ago the figure stood at 1.4million.

The disaffection has even reached the Catholic heartland of Liverpool. Between 20 and 30 new priests used to be ordained in the archdiocese every year.

Last year, for the first time since 1850, there was not one.

Cristina Odone, who edited Britain’s Catholic Herald newspaper from 1992 to 1996, fears paedophile scandals could mean an end to the Catholic Church in its present form.

Now deputy editor of the New Statesman magazine, Cristina, 41, said: “This will only not be the end of the Church if it comes clean about what has happened.

“There’s no denying that it is hurting the Church.

“The Church was turning a blind eye to paedophile priests. It was allowing young people to be abused.

“Paedophile priests will only be stopped if they fear punishment by the Church and by society. The Church has been complicit by turning a blind eye. It must get into retribution mode.

“It must stand up and beat its chest and say we are horrified by what has happened and we are absolutely determined to ensure it does not happen again.”

The Catholic Church is huge, with more than 1billion members globally ? 17.4 per cent of the world’s population.

But serial scandals could cause terminal damage, particularly in the West, where its rigid doctrine is increasingly seen as irrelevant to the modern world by many youngsters.

However, these are just the people it needs to attract.

Britain’s top monk, the Most Reverend Father Timothy Radcliffe, 56, said: “It is obviously profoundly damaging.

“These are extremely serious matters, whether they involve paedophilia or other forms of sexual abuse.

“It is never possible to stop sexual abuse completely, but we must try to ensure it never happens again.

“There must be real care taken in the admission of candidates to the priesthood. People with these problems should be identified early.”

But scandals such as the one in America are bound to shake the faith of the most devout believers and won’t win the Church any converts.

In the short term, the Catholic Church will recover.

But one thing is certain ? as more abuse cases come to light and ordinations and congregations fall, the Church must change if it is to survive.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/life/182543/Popes-sex-scandals-fury.html#ixzz0ok94LnOk