AFP
May 11, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g1oj_aaK9lxOT6jfyuyj4X01wj0A
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| Pope Benidict XVI |
WASHINGTON — A US support group for victims of predator priests said Tuesday comments made by Pope Benedict XVI on the sex scandal rocking the Catholic Church were meaningless and a poor substitute for action.
Benedict said on the plane taking him to Portugal for a four-day visit that the long-running abuse scandal, which has tainted his five years in the Vatican, was a "truly terrifying" evil that came from within the Church itself.
His words won praise from the media accompanying him on the visit to Portugal, who called the statement the strongest the 83-year-old pontiff has made to date on the painful issue.
But Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), dismissed the pope's statements as "pretty meaningless."
"There is no action," Blaine, who was herself abused by a priest when she was 13, told AFP.
"None of the words that he said today make children any safer than before he spoke the words," said the now 53-year-old Blaine.
"Previous to this, he was pointing fingers at the press, saying you were anti-Catholic. He said victims who spoke up were engaging in petty gossip.
"He may have stopped that extreme pointing of fingers, but he hasn't taken any action that will protect children," Blaine said.
Benedict's papacy has been rocked by allegations that the Vatican protected pedophile priests from prosecution in Europe and the United States, and that he knew about several cases of predator priests, prior to becoming pope, but took no action against them.
SNAP wants the Vatican to take concrete steps to protect children from pedophile priests, including firing bishops who protect them, handing such priests over to the secular authorities, and establishing a website with a database of the names of abusive clergy members.
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