BishopAccountability.org
	NY Archbishop Defends Pope In Sex Abuse Scandal Fox 4 March 28, 2010 http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/dpgonc-ny-archbishop-defends-pope-in-sex-abuse-scandal-km-20100328_6785387 NEW YORK -- New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan came to the Vatican's defense Sunday, saying embattled Pope Benedict XVI -- recently under fire for a decades-old sex abuse scandal -- is suffering the same slings and arrows as Jesus did before his crucifixion. In a Palm Sunday service at a packed St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dolan gave a spirited defense of the pontiff's leadership and received a standing ovation. "Sunday Mass is hardly the place to document the inaccuracy, bias and hyperbole of such aspersions," Dolan told parishioners. "But Sunday Mass is indeed the time for Catholics to pray for Benedict, our pope, and Palm Sunday Mass is surely a fitting place for us to express our love for and solidarity for our earthly shepherd now suffering from the same unjust accusation and shouts of the mob as Jesus did." Dolan praised the pope, calling him "the leader in purification reform." At the same time, Dolan called the transgressions of pedophile priests a "vicious sin and nauseating crime." The head of the Catholic Church is under increasing pressure following claims that he covered up incidents of sexual abuse by priests when he was serving in Germany as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. A week before Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar, Benedict made no direct mention of the scandal in his own Palm Sunday homily but indicated that his faith would give him the courage not to be intimidated by critics. The pontiff said faith in God helps lead one "towards the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion." And one of the prayers, recited in Portuguese during the Mass, was "for the young and for those charged with educating them and protecting them." The 82-year-old pope used the Popemobile for the first time on a Palm Sunday for his traditional outing in St Peter's Square. Security concerns may have prompted the decision to use the white bulletproof vehicle. As the pope was about to celebrate Christmas Eve mass last year, a young woman assaulted him and knocked him to the floor, but he quickly recovered.
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