Express
March 31, 2010
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/166356/O-Connor-willing-to-defend-Pope
IRELAND -- Outspoken singer SINEAD O'CONNOR has vowed to "stand up and defend" the Pope if allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic church are proved false.
The Nothing Compares 2 U hitmaker was one of the first celebrities to address the issue of child abuse in the church, and has previously urged Pope Benedict XVI to resign over reports the Vatican covered up the scandal for decades.
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O'Connor admits the reputation of church leaders has been destroyed by the allegations and insists she would support the pontiff if he's innocent.
She tells U.S. newsman Larry King, "I think if the Pope has been wronged and been lied about, then we all need to stand up and defend that... If the Vatican have (sic) been lied about, and the reports... are mistaken when they say there was a systematic cover-up (of child abuse), then let the Vatican and the Pope tomorrow, with the blessing of all Catholic people, get up and urge those who did not go to the police to turn themselves in for prosecution.
"Let's say, for argument's sake, there was no cover-up, despite what the reports say. If that's true, the Pope, Vatican and Catholicism have been brought into disrepute by those members of the clergy over the years who did not go to police... These people have covered up crimes of child abuse."
In 1992, O'Connor caused a storm when she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in protest at alleged child abuse within the church.
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