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	US Priest Victims Seek 'Not Just Words' from Pope Raw Story March 20, 2010 http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_priest_victims_seek_not_just_wor_03202010.html UNITED STATES -- The US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Saturday criticized Pope Benedict's letter apologizing for child sex abuse in Ireland, saying that action, not words are needed. The group said Pope Benedict XVI's expression of "shame and remorse" fell short, and said that action is "desperately needed." "Apparently not one wrongdoer will even get a papal 'slap on the hand.' Not one more predator will apparently be ousted," the group, which claims 9,000 members, said in a statement. "Not one more horrific secret cover up will apparently ever see the light of day. And not one victim will apparently see any tangible help whatsoever." The pope's letter Saturday addressed sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Irish Catholic Church, though similar abuses have emerged in the United States, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the pope's native Germany. SNAP said the pontiff's letter failed to pledge decisive action to sanction those responsible, compensate the victims and take steps to prevent similar abuse from happening in the future. "The Pope offers words when action is so desperately needed. The Pope keeps permitting needless risk where real prevention is needed. The Pope sanctions secrecy where real truth is needed. And the Pope ignores agonizing suffering where real healing -- not just words -- is needed," SNAP wrote. Child abuse cases involving US priests that began to emerge in 2002 led the US Roman Catholic Church to reach multi-million-dollar compensation deals with victims. But victims say there has been insufficient punishment levied against those who committed the abuses and that church officials -- including high-ranking members -- often covered up the crimes. "I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced," Benedict's letter said, adding that priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse "must answer" for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals."
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