UNITED STATES
CNN

By Jeff Anderson, Special to CNN
updated 6:55 AM EST, Wed February 27, 2013

Editor’s note: Jeff Anderson is an attorney and the founder of Jeff Anderson and Associates in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has represented survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and other authority figures for 28 years.

(CNN) — As Pope Benedict XVI steps down, the moral authority and future of the Roman Catholic Church depends on the next pope forcefully dealing with child sex abuse in its ranks.

Benedict had the power to effect fundamental, institutional change from the top that would have protected children of future generations. Benedict failed on child protection and the sexual abuse of children was allowed to continue, with thousands of more cases on his watch.

Before his installation as pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the keeper of the traditional papal secrecy around sexual abuse as the…