Compassion and justice

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

26 Jul, 2012

WHEN Pope Benedict XVI came to Australia in 2008 his apology to victims of priestly abuse within the Catholic church didn’t leave room for interpretation.

The misdeeds of errant priests, he said, constituted ‘‘a grave betrayal of trust’’ and deserved ‘‘unequivocal condemnation’’.

‘‘Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice,’’ the Pope declared.

Almost five years later, progress towards those goals is hard to measure.

While the church has, at various levels of its hierarchy, taken several steps to compensate and counsel victims, the human damage seems to be proving difficult to adequately address.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.