Pope Covers up Sex Scandal - Is this a Man of God?

The scandal surrounding the complicity of Pope Benedict XVI in covering up sex abuse scandals by priests may just have found its smoking gun. In a letter to a Bishop in the US (Pope to be) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger writes that 'for the good of the Universal Church' there was no need to defrock US priest Stephen Kiesle and that he should be afforded 'as much paternal care as possible'.

Kiesle is was given a six year sentence in 2004 for molesting a young girl and he is now on the sex offenders register.

This just goes to show the endemic attitude of secrecy in the Catholic Church, keeping all the priestly misdemeanour's quiet, gently moving priests around to avoid any hint of a public scandal that might risk undermining the authority of the the church. But the truth is coming out now and the church is such a slow moving conservative institution it is very ill equipped to cope with this kind of publicity. In true Catholic style the response from Rome has been subdued to say the least, as the leaders of the Church struggle with how to admit responsibility without loosing face.

I hope before this comes to an end those priests who have knowingly engaged in covering up these abuses come clean and seek forgiveness from the congregations they serve and retire from the priesthood. At the best what they have done is deeply immoral and at worst criminally negligent in placing vulnerable children at risk. I also hope the authorities will look into bringing criminal charges against priests who knew crimes were being committed and stood by and did nothing.