Pope Denounces Priests' Sex Abuse
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, March 22, 2002
VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II on Thursday for the first time addressed the sex abuse cases plaguing the Roman Catholic Church. The "scandal" casts a "dark shadow" on all priests, he said.
"At this time ... we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of Ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mysterium iniquitatis (the mystery of evil) at work in the world," the pope said in his annual message to priests worldwide.
The church has been dogged by a series of child abuse charges against priests and has settled some of those claims. Last week, the Boston archdiocese, the largest in the United States, agreed to pay up to $30 million to 86 plaintiffs under a settlement involving molestation charges against one priest who had been sent from parish to parish even after abuse charges had surfaced.
Also last week, Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk acknowledged that a "few" employees of the archdiocese had been accused of sexual abuse over the years.
"Grave scandal is caused, with the result that a dark shadow of suspicion is cast over all the other fine priests who perform their ministry with honesty and integrity and often with heroic self-sacrifice," the pope said. "The Church shows her concern for the victims and strives to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations."
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
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