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	Only the Pope Can Sort out the Church’s Abuse Problem By Ruth Gledhill The Times April 14, 2010 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7096750.ece After the Pope’s preacher was vilified at Easter for comparing the media’s scrutiny of the sins of the fathers to anti-Semitism, a retired bishop this week in Italy tried to move things on. He turned the argument around and blamed the Jews. Blame then shifted yet again, this time to homosexuals. But in this case it was not a retired bishop of 81 making a fool of himself. The Pope’s right-hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, made the case against gays in Chile, where the most notorious abusive priest has in fact been having sex with girls. Cardinal Bertone is a fundamentally good man, even if he has made himself appear to the outside world as a fool. Pope Benedict XVI is even more of a good man who has never appeared remotely foolish, but whose communications do leave him precariously on the edge of appearing ridiculous. It is possibly because they are too good that they have shown themselves unable to respond appropriately as new revelations appear daily showing the reality, the true depths of the horror, of what has been going on. Perhaps in the past, some bishops have been too easy on paedophile priests out of respect for the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, fearing to judge lest they too be judged. There are signs that the Holy See could be beginning to grasp that it may not be all the media’s fault; that there could be some justification for the international outrage about priests who have for decades been raping minors while for too long the Church has put its reputation before the sufferings of these children. Sadly, these signs are at appearing as the shifting of blame, like motes of sand in a storm — first to the Jews, now the gays. The beams in their own eyes are still indiscernible to them, although the rest of the world can see them clearly. As the Pope’s right hand man, Cardinal Bertone is perfectly placed to help Benedict XVI resolve this crisis. He is one of the few men whose advice the Pope heeds. If Bertone has been telling the Pope what this week he told the media in Chile, it is no wonder things are daily getting worse. Only the Pope himselfcan now sort this problem out and he needs to intervene soon. if he is to salvage his Church.He is at the crossing in a journey he has taken of his own volition andhas to choose which path he takes now — the smoother, easier road of blaming others, or the more difficult, painful road less travelled, the road to recovery and all that entails. His trips to Malta this weekend and to Britain in September can still be successes, but much depends on what he does now. As well as for the children,Perhaps it is time nowfor the world to pray for him. the Pope.
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