AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
Anthony and Chrissie Foster
From:Herald Sun
February 14, 2013
ON the 28th of February, Pope Benedict XVI will step down from his Roman throne mired in a shame that runs deep.
On clergy abuse, he has been an impotent Pope, who like his predecessors, fellow cardinals, bishops and priests, has done precious little to protect children, provide justice to victims, or banish criminals from the ranks of an organisation that places itself as a moral leader yet doesn’t seem to recognise that raping a child is a crime.
As Pope Benedict, he has spent the past seven years obfuscating the clergy child sexual assault issue within the church, just as he did to us when we attempted to advise him as to how his church could better treat its child victims.
That was in Sydney at World Youth Day in July 2008. At that time our daughter Katie, a clergy abuse victim, had been receiving 24-hour care for the previous nine years after running in front of a car while binge drinking to forget her torment.
Emma, another of our daughters and also a victim, had committed suicide only six months earlier.
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.