Critics Want Pontiff to Take Action
By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald
April 15, 2008
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view.bg?articleid=1087167&srvc=home&position=0
On the heels of Pope Benedict XVI's bold statements this morning that he's "ashamed" of the clergy sex abuse crisis and wants to bar pedophile priests, Boston victims and Catholic critics are speaking out and demanding more action from the visiting pontiff.
"There has to be more substance to what's he's saying," said Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston attorney who represented dozens of clergy sex abuse victims who sued the Boston Archdiocese. "He actually has to take steps. He has to let victims and the public know what those steps are.
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| Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, far right, Pope Benedict XVI, center, and former Italian Permier Romano Prodi, left, are seen prior to boarding a plane bound for Washington, at Romes Fiumicino international airport, Tuesday. Photo by AP |
"The words are fine, but we need action.''
Garabedian is holding a press conference today with six clergy abuse victims and their families, which was planned before Bene dict made his comments. Prior to his arrival in Washington D.C. today, Benedict told reporters aboard the papal airplane that he was "deeply ashamed" of the U.S. sex abuse scandal and will work to make sure pedophiles don't become priests.
"We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry," Benedict said, speaking in English. "It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound."
Ray Flynn, the former Boston mayor and former Ambassador to the Vatican, said Benedict has given the sex abuse crisis his "highest priority" on this visit by making it the subject of his first public comments.
"I don't think he could be stronger," said Flynn, speaking from Washington D.C. where he'll meet with the Holy Father tomorrow. "I don't think he could be more direct."
Marianne Duddy-Burke, president of DignityUSA, a Boston-based national group that advocates for gay, lesbian and transgendered Catholics, said Benedict didn't go far enough.
"I'm furious," said Duddy-Burke, whose group plans to demonstrate along Benedict's motorcade route tomorrow in Washington D.C. "He's not addressing the main issue in this scandal, which is that bishops repeatedly gave known abusers access to other innocent children and unknowing families."
Benedict answered questions that were submitted in advance by reporters aboard a special Alitalia airliner as he was flying from Rome to Washington D.C. to begin his first papal pilgrimage to the United States, the Associated Press reported.
"It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen," Benedict said. "It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission . . . to these children."
Benedict's pilgrimage was the first U.S. trip by a pope since the pedophile priest scandal was exposed in U.S. dioceses in the early 2000s spawning lawsuits costing dioceses around the country hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
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