Pope Benedict XVI is a class act. The letter he wrote to the Catholics of Ireland following the latest child abuse scandal was truly inspiring. He expressed his own sorrow and confusion to the Irish people, and cited scripture from the Book to encourage recovery. He even wrote out a prayer for the Church in Ireland, to renew the faith that had understandably been shaken.
As tender as that moment was, I can’t help wonder why Benny decided that now was the time to acknowledge the scandals. After all, he didn’t bother to say anything in 1980 when a priest under his charge was found to be molesting children.
Pope Benedict XVI, then Joseph Ratzinger, covered up the scandal, and eventually became the go-to man for priests who wanted a little more from their altar boys than the mere fetching of goblets.
Ratzinger went so far as to issue a worldwide document to all Catholic bishops, ordering them to put the church’s well-being before that of a child’s.
It really is a testament to discipline when a Cardinal has the time to handle so much work, what with running the cover-up-sex-scandal institution in addition to managing the Congregation of the Doctrine of The Faith, the institution in charge of promoting Catholic morals and traditions.
And to impress us all even further, in the last few years Benny has still found the time to bash the gays, comparing the danger of homosexuality to the danger of global warming.
In related news, Hypocrisy has become the eighth Catholic Virtue.
