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Pope Benedict XVI broke his recent silence
on the clerical abuse scandal Thursday, noting recent attacks on
the church and the need for "we Christians" to repent for sins
and recognize mistakes.

      Benedict made the comments during an off-the-cuff homily at a
Mass inside the Vatican for members of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission.

      Victims of clerical abuse have long demanded that Benedict take
more personal responsibility for clerical abuse, charging that the
Vatican orchestrated a culture of cover-up and secrecy that allowed
priests to rape and molest children for decades unchecked.

      Those demands have intensified in recent weeks as the Vatican
and Benedict himself have been accused of negligence in handling
some cases in Europe and the United States.


      "I must say, we Christians, even in recent times, have often
avoided the word 'repent', which seemed too tough. But now under
attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins ...
we realize that it's necessary to repent, in other words, recognize
what is wrong in our lives," Benedict said.

      "Open ourselves to forgiveness ... and let ourselves be
transformed. The pain of repentance, which is a purification and
transformation, is a grace because it is renewal and the work of
divine mercy," he said.


      It was Benedict's fullest allusion to the scandal since he sent
a letter to the Irish faithful March 20 concerning what
Irish-government inquiries have concluded was decades of abuse and
church-mandated cover-up in the country.


      Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi confirmed that
Benedict was indeed referring to the scandal. "That's a legitimate
reading," he said. "You can apply (his comments) to the current
situation."


      In his letter to the Irish, Benedict chastised Irish bishops for
failures in leadership and judgment. But he took no responsibility
himself or for the Vatican, which many victims have blamed for
being more concerned about protecting the church than children.


      On Monday, the Vatican posted on its Web site what it claimed
had been a long-standing church policy telling bishops that they
should report abuse crimes to police, where civil laws require it.


      But critics have said the guidelines were merely a deceptive
attempt by Rome to rewrite history, designed to shield the Vatican
from blame by shifting responsibility of dealing with abusive
priests onto bishops.


      The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, a canon lawyer who has been the main
expert witness for victims in hundreds of lawsuits, called the
guidelines a "failed attempt at damage control through revision of
history."


      He noted that senior Vatican officials, including the current
Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in 2002 were quoted as
saying the church shouldn't require bishops to report abusive
priests to police because it would violate the trust the two
shared.


      "In practice, the policy has been to avoid contact with civil
authorities and to cover up the crimes and the criminals," Doyle
wrote in an article this week. "The newly created canonical
tradition of referral to civil authorities is the result of one
thing: public outrage, the exposure from the media and the pressure
for accountability in civil courts."

Gallery

Pope Benedict XVI broke his recent silence
on the clerical abuse scandal Thursday, noting recent attacks on
the church and the need for "we Christians" to repent for sins
and recognize mistakes.


Pope changes tone on abuse cover-up accusations, urges 'repentance'

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