Vatican Takes on Paper over Abuse Reports, Daily Nation , April 1, 2010

Vatican Takes on Paper over Abuse Reports

Daily Nation
April 1, 2010

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Vatican%20takes%20on%20paper%20over%20abuse%20reports/-/1068/891500/-/15fje46/-/

Pope Benedict XVI (C) celebrates the Chrismal Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 1, 2010. Photo/REUTERS

The Vatican attacked The New York Times on Wednesday for its coverage of the sexual abuse of children by priests, rejecting accusations that Pope Benedict had mishandled a series of abuse cases before he was elected.

Signalling it had decided to take the gloves off in its reaction to coverage of sexual abuse, a Vatican statement referred specifically to two reporters and a columnist.

“I ask the Times to reconsider its attack mode about Pope Benedict XVI and give the world a more balanced view of a leader it can and should count on,” said the 20-paragraph statement written by Cardinal William J. Levada.

Levada, an American, succeeded the pope as head of the Vatican’s doctrinal body after the pontiff’s election in 2005.

The Vatican has denied any cover-up in the abuse of 200 deaf boys in the United States by Reverend Lawrence Murphy from the 1950s to the 1960s.

The New York Times reported the Vatican and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, were warned about Murphy but he was not defrocked.

The Times said its reports were “based on meticulous reporting and documents.” “Some of the particulars were confirmed by the Church, and so far no one has cast doubt on the facts we reported,” the newspaper said in a statement.

“The allegations of abuse within the Catholic Church are a serious subject... Any role the current pope may have played in responding to those allegations is a significant aspect of this story.”