ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND/AUSTRALIA
Association of Catholic Priests

The new executive of the National Council of Priests of Australia (NCP) met in Geelong, Victoria, 4 – 7 February 2013. Among the many issues discussed, two prominent matters were considered.

The following is a statement from the executive on these issues.

Statement by NCP concerning the establishment of a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The National Council of Priests of Australia (NCP) welcomes the Federal Government initiative of a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to address both individual and systemic abuse in this critical area. We hope the investigation of the Royal Commission will endeavour to face honestly and openly the pain and trauma experienced by those who have been abused, particularly within the Catholic Church.

As an organisation which represents a significant number of Catholic priests across Australia we wish to express our deep regret and shame at the abhorrent offences committed by some of our brothers and the subsequent mishandling and cover ups that occurred in some instances of abuse by people in authority within the Church.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

It is interesting that the preliminary speculation about who might be elected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Benedict XVI seem to follow a “secular election mentality.” The American media, in particular, are viewing this opportunity in the Church from the perspective of American political elections. Wrong.

That is, the speculation is upon geopolitical, demographic, and even “power” propositions.

Fortunately, the election of the Successor to St. Peter is in the power of the Holy Spirit, not earthly electoral pundits.

I recall so vividly in 2005 participating in the Conclave which elected Pope Benedict XVI. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit were palpable. There was no secular voice or influence. It was incredible.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Msgr. Robert J. Coyle as as military ordinary for the United States of America, assigning him the titular see of Zabi. The bishop-elect was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He has served in several pastoral roles, currently as pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Mineola, New York. He was a military chaplain from 1991 to 1999, when he was named to Corpus Christi Parish, but has remained a reservist chaplain and has achieved the level of commander.

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UNITED STATES
WUSA

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) — Nearly 80 million Americans still call themselves Catholic, but their numbers have been dwindling.

And among American Catholics, some are proud of Pope Benedict’s decision to resign…. and others are furious that he’s failed to do more to deal with child sex abuse by priests.

The resignation was a shock to the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl. “It’s very startling. Totally unprepared for it.”

Cardinal Wuerl had just been with the Pope in October, and he says he saw no sign Benedict was struggling with his duties. “There was no doubt he was in full possession of his faculties.”

Cardinal Wuerl will be part of the conclave that will select the next Pope… and he says he will be looking for continuity with the conservative teachings of Benedict and John Paul. “There is a basic doctrine that is the bedrock of Catholic faith.”

But many American Catholics are pushing for a change. “The last thing we want is continuity,” says David Lorenz of Bowie, who was abused by the priest and guidance councilor at his Catholic High School. Lorenz was sodomized at a sleepover when he was just 16.

Lorenz says Pope Benedict has offered comforting words, but that he’s failed to punish bishops for hiding abusive priest and covering up the sexual abuse of children that is tearing the church apart. “This Pope has done nothing…. This thing is going to haunt them for a thousand years until they stand up and confront it and come clean.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 12, 2013

Among the papal candidates, we are most worried about Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the USA.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras

He has accused much of the U.S. media of being anti-Catholic and claimed that the major networks and newspapers “made themselves protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution of the church.”

He also opposed proposals that local bishops turn all allegations of clerical sexual abuse over to civil authorities for investigation and possible prosecution.

“I would be willing to go to jail before harming one of my priests — I am not a policeman,” he said. “I am a priest, a bishop.”

[BishopAccountabity.org]

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Mexico City

He has blamed the media for “attacks on the church” in regards to over-reporting on sex abuse claims.

http://www.natcath.org/crisis/071902g.htm

In that same interview, he claimed that there are no “documented” cases of abuse against minors in Mexico.

He also repeatedly minimized and concealed the widely reported multiple child sex abuse allegations involving Fr. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera who is from Mexico, worked in the Los Angeles archdiocese and whose current whereabouts are unknown.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the USA

Our concerns about this savvy but reckless prelate are detailed here:

[SNAP]

It’s important to keep in mind that we are a support group, not a research organization. We don’t claim to have any “inside information” about the papal candidates or selection process.

What we do have is a burning desire to safeguard innocent children and vulnerable adults in the church, and to do whatever we possibly can to protect others. And we have 25 years of experience in watching and dealing with Catholic officials in child sex abuse and cover up cases across the globe.

So we acknowledge that we know almost nothing about how these papal candidates have dealt with clergy sex crimes and cover ups: Cardinal Peter Turkson, Cardinal Peter Erd, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

By Monica Brady-Myerov February 12, 2013

BOSTON — Following Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise announcement that he’s resigning at the end of the month, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who was traveling on Monday, released a statement saying that it is time to reflect on the pope’s legacy and achievements.

Many in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston reacted positively to Benedict’s decision, but there was some skepticism among victims of clergy sexual abuse about why a pope — for the first time in nearly six centuries — is resigning. …

A leading member of the victims community, Bernie McDaid, of Salem, was the first to speak with the pope. McDaid said Benedict’s departure is a relief to him.

“I hate to say it this way, but I will — one down and many more to go,” McDaid said. “Anybody culpable for this problem with children needs to step down.”

McDaid said he’s spoken to many other abuse victims who feel the same way. BishopAccountability.org, the website that tracks priest abuse and the coverup all the way to the Vatican, thinks there’s more to the story.

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more revelations to come,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-founder of BishopAccountability.org. “I think it’s very possible that he knows of something on the horizon that finally was the tipping point and just caused him to resign.”

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ROME
Reuters

6:05 a.m. CST, February 12, 2013

By James Mackenzie

ROME, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Pope Benedict leaves office having failed to stamp out the sexual abuse of children by priests and with the culture of secrecy that fostered the scandal still in place, groups representing some of the victims said on Monday.

Bishops Accountability, a U.S. pressure group, said the pope had apologised frequently for the harm done by priests but had never taken effective action to rectify the “incalculable harm” done to hundreds of thousands of children by predatory clergy.

“Benedict’s words rang hollow. He spoke as a shocked bystander, as if he had just stumbled upon the abuse crisis,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Kristine Ward | Feb. 12, 2013 Examining the Crisis

Pope Benedict made a sensible decision. It is evidence the papacy and the Church can change.

Let’s hope it is a signal of strength for the next pope to take the steps that the Church needs.

The Church is in bad shape and needs the tremendous power of the papacy to be used courageously and forcefully for good – starting with the sexual abuse crisis, the largest crisis the Church has faced in 500 years.

Pope Benedict, by being in the unique position of being alive, and with his considerable political skills that were in evidence before and during the last conclave will have influence over the coming conclave and, it can be reasonably expected, into the next papacy.

Pope Benedict should bar Cardinal Roger Mahony from entering the conclave. The Los Angeles documents are evidence enough that this high honor of voting for the next Pope should be withdrawn from him. There should be an empty chair to mark Mahony’s spot.

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VATICAN CITY
Global Post

Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation on February 28 will leave his successor a formidable to-do list as the head of a Roman Catholic Church hit hard by sex abuse and money laundering scandals, internal bickering and growing secularism in Europe.

Here is a list of key issues facing the future pope:

— SEX ABUSE: After sordid revelations of child abuse by priests erupted in Europe and the United States, Benedict apologised for the Church’s role in turning a blind eye and protecting abusers, but campaigners say not enough has been done to bring suspects before the law. The revelations appear to be far from over: the latest case saw a Los Angeles bishop stripped of his office last month after being linked to an abuse cover-up.

— VATICAN MONEY LAUNDERING: Plagued by a dark history of murky financial dealings and accusations of mafia ties, the Vatican bank has promised to step up efforts against money laundering. Despite insisting it wants to make it on to the White List of financially virtuous states, moves to increase transparency have been plodding. The head of the bank was sacked in May last year — according to some because he was too zealous at sniffing out suspicious deals — and his successor has still not been named.

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MICHIGAN
WLNS

It may never be known whether Pope Benedict’s resignation had anything to do with increasing cases of child sexual abuse within the clergy.

Nick Perreault spoke to a victim who says he was abused by a priest in the 50’s he believes the resignation is coincidental, but hopes the it will bring a change to the church.

“The era of cover up and conspiracy in the Catholic church has to end,” said Greg Guggemos.

It’s something Greg Guggemos says he unfortunately witnessed first hand.

In 2010 he received a settlement from the Diocese of Lansing after he alleged that Monsignor John Slowey assaulted him in the 50’s, while he was living at the St. Vincent orphanage.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY

Published: February 11, 2013

POPE BENEDICT XVI quit. Good. He was utterly bereft of charm, tone-deaf and a protector of priests who abused children. He’d been a member of the Hitler Youth. In addition to this woeful résumé, he had no use for women.

The Roman Catholic Church, which in so many ways has been a great boon to the City of New York, has been choked and bludgeoned into insignificance by a small group of men based in Italy.

Priests cannot marry. Why? I will tell you why. Priests cannot marry because they would have to marry women. Women cannot be priests.

Why? Women cannot become priests because of a bunch of old men. These old men justify their beliefs with a brace of ridiculous arguments that Jesus would have overturned in a minute. “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” What about that is hard to understand? If you can become a priest, I can become a priest. Period. Equality.

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AUSTRALIA
Hobsons Bay Weekly

By GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK
Feb. 12, 2013

HOBSONS Bay councillors are expected to defy a council officers’ report that recommends not changing the name of a street named after a paedophile Catholic priest because there’s insufficient support.

A report prepared for last night’s council meeting recommended against changing the name of Rubeo Avenue in Altona Meadows.

As reported exclusively in the Weekly on November 28, a mother and daughter petitioned for a change.

Point Cook woman Christine Dunsmore and her mother Jen Austin, of Altona North, believe their former family priest Victor Rubeo “shouldn’t be revered in any way, shape or form”.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Sacramento

[with video]

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – After Pope Benedict’s stunning announcement Monday that he was retiring as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, many are wondering how the change in leadership will affect the priest sex abuse scandal.

CBS13′s Laura Cole talked with one victim in Sacramento on Monday.

“It’s difficult,” Chico Chavez said. “You kind of become a bystander of life and not really a participant.”

Chavez, who was sexually molested by a Sacramento priest as a child, believes there’s more to Pope Benedict’s decision to resign than just health reasons.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS Los Angeles

[with video]

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With a large hat covering his face – and the passage of time covering his secrets – former priest Joseph Pina wasn’t talking.

“Mr. Pina, did you tell LAUSD about your past?” asked CBS2 Investigative Reporter David Goldstein.

“I have no comment,” Pina replied.

“Did you think you had to tell LAUSD about your past?” Goldstein asked.

“No comment right now,” replied Pina.

Goldstein caught up with Pina just after the Archodiocese released his formerly secret files in which he admitted to a psychologist that he fell in love with a 13-year-old girl in the late 80s.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota SNAP

Vinnie Nauheimer

What if you had the ability to undo egregious wrongs that affected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide would you, could you do it? What if there was only a sixteen day window for you to act? Would you find the time? Pope Benedict XVI, you have just sixteen days to perform this wondrous task. You’ve heard all about the crimes. You’ve heard the pleas of survivors; they have haunted you since before you took the office of pope. They will haunt your legacy for eternity too if you pay no heed to this request. I’m begging you on behalf of survivors of clergy abuse and their families all around the world, set them free, hear the pleas, hear their suffering, take to heart their pain and publicize the global clergy abuse files regardless of the rank of the offending priest. Only you can alleviate the endless suffering of victims and their families by giving their suffering validity and naming their tormentors!

Whether you wanted it or not, God gave you the opportunity to change the church and put an end to the worldwide sexual abuse of children by priests and bishops. God has given you two opportunities, one as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the second as Pope Benedict XVI to clean up this evil mess festering within His church. In both instances, you have not been up to the task. Now with just days left before the voluntary end of your papacy, you have yet a third chance. We implore you, to summon the courage before God and man to do what you swore to do in assuming your position as a priest, protect the flock.

A man of your intelligence knows beyond a shadow of a doubt about how the sexual abuse of children corrupts, has corrupted and has thrown the Catholic Church and your papacy into a tailspin. Now is the time to resurrect the church as a parting gift to the victims, the future of the church and to Jesus Christ who founded this church. It is your last chance to rectify the wrongs.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

By Elizabeth Drescher

In the wake of Benedict’s sudden announcement of his early retirement, Catholic luminaries from Cardinal Timothy Dolan to James Martin, SJ have already begun, as is the custom when a papal career ends, to lionize the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

But on the margins of the Catholic Church, the legacy Benedict began shaping in 1980 as Cardinal Ratzinger, when he was named as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faithful (the office formerly known as the Inquisition), and which he solidified during a mere eight years as Bishop of Rome is seen as something far more complex and troubling. …

Joelle Casteix, Western Region Director for SNAP, which advocates on behalf of some 20,000 survivors and allies of those abused by Roman Catholic priests, likewise sees the action of laypeople as critical to any meaningful change in the Roman Catholic Church. “The only way that we can have influence,” she says, “is if Catholics sitting in the pews demand change. It’s time for the Catholic laity stand up and demand that the church truly embody the teachings of Jesus Christ in protecting children.” She sees that as unlikely to happen between now and when the College of Cardinals meets in March to elect a new pope, especially in a Church that “evolves in geological time.”

Pope Benedict, Casteix says, “offered empty promises and apologies” about the abuse scandal “as a PR move” while at the same time “portraying victims as enemies of the Church.” This, she says, has continued to “ensure the marginalization of abuse victims within the Church” even as civil authorities have moved more decisively to extract a measure of justice from abusive priests and the Church leaders who often enabled them to continue as abusers and actively covered up the Church’s protection of them.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Reuters

(Reuters) – A former Los Angeles Catholic archbishop who was stripped of all public duties after being linked to efforts to conceal child sex abuse by priests said on Monday he planned to participate in the process to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The announcement by Cardinal Roger Mahony, which angered a prominent victims support group, came less than two weeks after 12,000 pages of church files unsealed under court order showed Mahony worked to send priests accused of abuse out of state to shield known abusers from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s.

“I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the Church, and to participate in the Conclave to elect his successor,” Mahoney, 76, said in a statement released on Monday by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. …

Joelle Casteix, western regional director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she was concerned that it was not in Mahony’s best interest to “elect anyone who will punish wrongdoers and take child molesters out of ministry.

“We fear that anyone that he votes for will only continue this shameful cover-up of child sexual abuse,” she added.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

Pope Benedict XVI is to step down at the end of February as head of the Catholic Church, saying he is no longer strong enough to fulfil his duties.

The 85-year-old German-born pontiff made the announcement in Latin in a speech in the Apostolic Palace on Monday that he is resigning as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics after nearly eight years. …

Sex abuse victims welcome resignation

Survivors of sexual abuse say Pope Benedict XVI has done nothing to punish paedophile priests or church seniors who looked the other way.

In the United States, a group representing 12,000 people who say they have been abused by priests is describing his legacy as one of shame. The survivors’ network, known as SNAP, has members worldwide.

Joelle Casteix, an American spokesperson, told Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint programme on Tuesday her first reaction to the news of the Pope’s resignation was one of shock, but now she sees that it makes sense.

“The past five years there have been child sex abuse inquiries against the Catholic Church across the globe. The sex abuse scandal has reached every level of the Catholic Church and his health has declined.

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CALIFORNIA
LA Daily News

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer
dailybreeze.com
Posted: 02/11/2013

At churches, schools, offices and across social media, Pope Benedict XVI’s historic announcement that he’s resigning triggered a wave of surprise, a flurry of tributes, and speculation about how the Catholic Church will evolve under his successor.

Worshippers expressed astonishment at the news they’d heard when they awakened for morning Mass, and priests quickly tucked a reference to Pope Benedict into their sermons.

Leaders at the Los Angeles Archdiocese, the nation’s largest, scrambled to react to the pope’s statement that he will step down Feb. 28 because of failing health.

Archbishop Jose Gomez quickly posted a statement on his Facebook page, expressing affection for the 85-year-old pope and describing him as “one of the wisest persons in our world today.” …

Joelle Casteix, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said her group was upset with Pope Benedict’s resignation because they believe he will not be held accountable for the cover up of sex abuse by members of the clergy.

And while she feels that the College of Cardinals will act to protect it own, she still holds out hope for victims of sex abuse.

“I hope there will finally be that man of action who will punish wrongdoers and who will ensure that molesters are turned over to civil authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Current – The Young Turks

Sexual assault survivor on Pope Benedict’s resignation: ‘He’s resigning without having done what he needs to have done’

Cenk talks to Peter Isely, a founding member of the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), about the surprising resignation of Pope Benedict and his legacy. “The point about Benedict resigning is that he’s resigning without having done what he needs to have done as Pope,” Isely says, referring to the continuing child abuse scandals and coverups within the Catholic Church. Isely continues his point, laying out direction for the papal sucessor. “The first day he comes into office, [he needs to] sign a decree…that any priest that has sexually assaulted or harmed a child is going to be immediately removed from the priesthood.”

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The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Ian Traynor in Brussels, Karen McVeigh in New York and Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 February 2013

For the legions of people whose childhoods and adult lives were wrecked by sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy, Pope Benedict XVI is an unloved pontiff who will not be missed.

Victims of the epidemic of sex- and child-abuse scandals that erupted under Benedict’s papacy reacted bitterly to his resignation, either charging the outgoing pontiff with being directly complicit in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the thousands of paedophilia cases that have come to light over the past three years, or with failing to stand up to reactionary elements in the church resolved to keep the scandals under wraps.

From Benedict’s native Germany to the USA, abuse victims and campaigners criticised an eight-year papacy that struggled to cope with the flood of disclosures of crimes and abuse rampant for decades within the church. Matthias Katsch, of the NetworkB group of German clerical-abuse victims, said: “The rule of law is more important than a new pope.”

Norbert Denef, 64, from the Baltic coast of north Germany, was abused as a boy by his local priest for six years. In 2003, Denef took his case to the bishop of Magdeburg. He was offered €25,000 (then £17,000) in return for a signed pledge of silence about what he suffered as a six-year-old boy. He then raised the issue with the Vatican and received a letter that said Pope John Paul II would pray for him so that Denef could forgive his molester.

“We won’t miss this pope,” said Denef. He likened the Vatican’s treatment of the molestation disclosures to “mafia-style organised crime rings”.

That view was echoed by David Clohessy in the US, executive director of SNAP (Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests), an organisation with 12,000 members: “His record is terrible. Before he became pope, his predecessor put him in charge of the abuse crisis.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Beacon

By Patricia Rice, special to the Beacon

In an announcement that surprised even his closest associates and flummoxed the Vatican chief spokesman, Pope Benedict XVI, 85, told a gathering of cardinals that he is resigning at the end of the month. …

Acting on abuse

St. Louisan David Clohessy, the executive director of SNAP the largest network of survivors of those who have been abused by priests, is hopeful that Benedict might take some decisive action in the next week to clean the church of those priests who have abused children or those bishops who have sheltered abusive priests. He is “absolutely” sure the pope understands the issue well.

“No one more than Benedict has more knowledge about the (scandal of clerical sex abuse) and no one has more power. So we still hope that in the days remaining the pope will use some of that power, now that he is free of any political considerations and other obligations to act,” Clohessy said.

Clohessy acknowledged that this pope had long worked on the issue before he became pope and encouraged Pope John Paul II to take action in 2002 when the late pope was ailing and his physical efforts curtailed.

“Benedict talked more than Pope John Paul did about” clerical sex abuse of minors, he said. “But talking is not enough, you have to take action to protect kids. So, it is hard to give him credit for addressing the public scandal when the revelations greatly increased during his papacy.” “We hope that the he next pope will take more action to protect kids.”

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VATICAN CITY
Courthouse News Service

By JACK BOUBOUSHIAN

(CN) – Pope Benedict’s retirement plans may open him up to prosecution by the International Criminal Court for sheltering child abusers, an advocacy group said Monday.

Citing his frail health on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he will step down as pope after less than eight years in office. He is the first pope to retire in the last 600 years.

Though a surprise to many, one group that the announcement failed to rattle is the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). It announced hours later: “whether he is in office or not makes no difference, but it may lower the bar of resistance enough for justice to be served.”

“In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome,” the group said in a statement. “Not only does Pope Benedict XVI bear responsibility in his official capacity for the church-wide policy of systematic and widespread concealment and enabling of the crimes, but he bears individual responsibility in a number of cases in which he ensured that perpetrators would be shielded and protected and left in place to assault more victims.”

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UNITED STATES
Yahoo! News

By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News

Pope Benedict XVI, 85, will become the first pontiff to resign since the 15th century, the Vatican announced on Monday. He steps down on Feb. 28.

The pope said he was resigning because he does not have the physical strength necessary to do the job.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the pope said in a statement.

The pope took the helm in 2005, just when allegations that the church covered up sexual abuse by clerics were making waves in the U.S. and Ireland. Over the pope’s next eight years on the job, sexual abuse allegations also surfaced in Germany, Norway and other European countries, and the ensuing crisis became one of the defining aspects of his tenure.

In a statement on Monday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the pope had brought a “listening heart” to victims of sexual abuse.

But some advocates and victims groups said on Monday that the pope did not turn his listening into adequate action.

David Clohessy, for one, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told Yahoo News that the pope’s record on helping those abused by clergy is “terrible.”

While he was pope, reporters uncovered Benedict XVI’s personal connection to what advocates characterize as an inadequate response to abuse by church leadership for decades. In 1980, the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was aware of a 1980 decision to move a German priest who had molested children back into a parish after he received treatment from a psychiatrist, The New York Times reported in 2010.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

By: Cynthia Newsome

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy is the subject of much debate.

Dennis Coday, managing editor of the National Catholic Reporter, has covered Benedict since he first became pope in 2005.

Coday said the high point of the pope’s career was his push to encourage faith.

“He declared this the year of faith and wanted to increase Christianity in society,” Coday explained.

But Coday said he was disappointed the pope wasn’t more transparent about priests accused of sex crimes. Many of those priests were often reassigned to other churches to avoid prosecution and embarrassment for the church.

“The Pope apologized, but he could have done more,” he added.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

Ronnie Polaneczky, Daily News Columnist
Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013

IF I’M EVER elected pope – a long shot for a female, nonpracticing Catholic – I would never resign from the position the way Pope Benedict XVI has done after fewer than eight years on the job.

The pontiff cites his age, faltering health and decreasing stamina as reasons for handing over his staff and crown. But if I were pope, I wouldn’t care how creaky, pooped or mentally goofy I was becoming. I’d hang on to those red slippers until my last breath.

That’s how badly I want to be infallible. …

Pedophile priests wouldn’t have been secretly moved from parish to parish like Parcheesi pieces because one of those parents would’ve said, “If we don’t do something about this now, the next kid who’s hurt might be mine.”

Pope Benedict could’ve used his nearly eight years of infallibility to open all church records to the light of day, to come clean about the extent of the cover-up and let the chips fall where they would’ve. And he’d have an easy answer to those who might’ve implicated him in the cover-up, back in the days when he was a cardinal.

“I was fallible then. And now I’m not.”

See how well this thing works?

Pope Benedict will step down on Feb. 28. That gives him 16 more days of infallibility – time in which he can act without worrying about “even the possibility of error.” I can think of no better way to use his time than to honor a request of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

In a statement released Monday, its founders called upon the pope to take meaningful action on behalf of victims of priest sex crimes.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Boua Xiong

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Pope Benedict’s reign started at the height of sex scandals in the Catholic church. Eight years later, as he steps down, the issue still plagues him as much as it does the victims.

“He didn’t finish his job,” Bob Schwiderski said Monday after he learned about the resignation.

Schwiderski was an altar boy for St. John’s Catholic Church in Hector more than five decades ago. It was there he said he was sexually abused repeatedly by a priest.

“I was 7-years-old the first time,” he said.

The abuse continued until he was 11. He didn’t tell anyone until he was in his 30s and only after he found out others suffered the same way he did too. Over the years, he listened to the Pope apologize and set new reporting rules, but he said that was never enough.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

The new Pope should not condemn contraception, its former leader in England and Wales suggested today as speculation began about the future of the Church following the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI.

By John-Paul Ford Rojas
10:23AM GMT 12 Feb 2013

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said that while a radical departure from previous teaching was not likely, it would be “wise” to focus on “what’s good and what’s true” about marriage and family life instead.

He said that Catholic teaching on sexuality should steer away from saying “we condemn this, we condemn that”.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AUSTRALIAN human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson says the Pope’s resignation could expose him to lawsuits from victims of pedophile priests.

Robertson, writing in UK newspaper the Independent, argues the Pope’s resignation is “merely expedient” as he’d become too old to cope in the job.

“It would have been both astonishing and courageous, a few years ago, had it been offered in atonement for the atrocity to which he had for 30 years turned a blind eye – the rape, buggery and molestation of tens of thousands of small boys in priestly care,” writes the author of The Case of The Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse.

Robertson, based in London, argues that the Pope’s “command responsibility” goes back to 1981 when he was appointed head of the Vatican body that disciplines errant priests.

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euronews

Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned on February 11 and is expected to leave his post on February 28, will leave behind a Vatican administration mired in scandal over child sex abuse by priests. David Lorenz, who heads up a US group for victims, says the pope failed to really tackle the problem. Lorenz himself was abused by a priest working as a guidance counsellor at his school when he was 16.

Lorenz himself was abused by a priest working as a guidance counsellor at his school when he was 16. Lorenz said of the outgoing pope, “He’s apologised the Irish. He’s apologised to the United States. He’s apologised to Australia, Germany, Spain – you know, letters of apology for what’s gone on in those countries. But the fact is there’s been no action, and words without action really are emptiness.”

Looking ahead to the next pope, Lorenz said, “I’m concerned that we’ll get somebody just as poor and just as rigid on this issue as he was.” Cardinal Roger Mahony, the former Archbishop of Los Angeles, was stripped of his public duties after being linked to efforts to conceal abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

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ROME
The Times (United Kingdom)

James Bone
Rome

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to abdicate because of old age followed secret surgery late last year to replace the battery in his pacemaker, it has emerged today.

The 85-year-old pontiff had a new battery implanted to replace one in the pacemaker he received after suffering a stroke over a decade ago.

According to Italy’s Il Sole 24 business newspaper, the operation took place at the Pius XI clinic in Rome just under three months ago.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Press-Telegram

With the selection of a new pope, the Roman Catholic Church signals the way forward for an institution whose policies affect the whole world. The shocking news Monday that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning this month presents just such an occasion, giving the church a chance to move beyond the sins of the past, to modernize.

But the church can hardly expect to cleanse itself as long as Benedict’s replacement will be chosen by a College of Cardinals that includes Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles.

Last week, following further revelations about Mahony’s role in protecting priests who sexually molested children, and the removal of the former head of the L.A. archdiocese from administrative duties, we called on him to resign his post as cardinal.

Mahony’s potential role in choosing Benedict’s successor underscores what a purely symbolic gesture that removal was and highlights the need for the North Hollywood resident to step aside.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The Taoiseach has refused to say if he will apologise to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

Enda Kenny met with some of the women affected yesterday, along with the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

Afterwards, the survivors said they expect an apology will be forthcoming.

But speaking on his way into Government Buildings this morning, the Taoiseach refused to be drawn on the issue.

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IRELAND
The Sun

By MYLES McENTEE
Political Correspondent

SURVIVORS of the Magdalene Laundries cried yesterday as they told Taoiseach Enda Kenny their harrowing stories.

Six women who served in the nun-run workhouses had an emotional three-hour meeting with Mr Kenny and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore at Government Buildings.

Speaking afterwards, the survivors praised the meeting — and said it had helped bring some “closure” to the affair.

And they said they were sure Mr Kenny would make a formal apology on behalf of the State for their treatment, as highlighted in the McAleese Report.

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IRELAND
BBC News

Women from the Magdalene Survivors Together group have said they are confident they will receive an apology from the prime minister (taoiseach) of the Irish Republic.

The laundries were Catholic-run workhouses that operated in Ireland and where girls and women had to do unpaid, manual labour.

Many were sent there by the state.

The women were speaking after a meeting with both Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his deputy Eamon Gilmore.

They said they had received a very compassionate response from both men.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

For Immediate Release

February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict made a sensible decision. It is evidence the papacy and the Church can change.

Let’s hope it is a signal of strength for the next pope to take the steps that the Church needs.

The Church is in bad shape and needs the tremendous power of the papacy to be used courageously and forcefully for good – starting with the sexual abuse crisis, the largest crisis the Church has faced in 500 years.

Pope Benedict, by being in the unique position of being alive, and with his considerable political skills that were in evidence before and during the last conclave will have influence over the coming conclave and, it can be reasonably expected, into the next papacy.

Pope Benedict should bar Cardinal Roger Mahony from entering the conclave. The Los Angeles documents are evidence enough that this high honor of voting for the next Pope should be withdrawn from him. There should be an empty chair to mark Mahony’s spot.

Pope Benedict took a few, tiny, window dressing steps toward resolving the crisis. With the exception of action against the Legionaire of Christ founder Pope Benedict’s provided words only and weak ones at that.

What’s needed now is true righteousness and courage to match the nobility of action that the survivors have brought forth from lives crucified by rape and sodomy by priests and nuns.

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UNITED STATES
KGO

[with video]

Lyanne Melendez

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — In a surprising and rare move, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation Monday. His tenure as pope involved one of the most painful issues confronting the Catholic Church: the sexual abuse of children by some members of the clergy.

As pope, Benedict repeatedly apologized for years of inaction by the Catholic Church, but it’s what he did not do when he was cardinal that threatens to overshadow his legacy.

“Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes,” he said during that visit.

He was also the first pontiff to meet with victims. But for some of them, his actions came too late.

“No I don’t think he did enough,” said Tim Lennon, who is with Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, commonly known as SNAP.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Pope Benedict XVI has done nothing to help sexual abuse victims and has instead covered up crimes to protect the church, Australian advocates for victims of church sexual abuse say.

Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin says the Pope had been “absolutely appalling” in his handling of the worldwide issue.

“He’s certainly been responsible for the Catholic Church’s policy of concealing and covering up (sexual abuse crimes),” Ms Courtin told AAP.

“And I know his edicts, coming from the Vatican to the bishops worldwide, have been such that there’s been threats of excommunication if they don’t keep these things secret.”

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Retiring Pope Benedict XVI wasn’t the best governor but he did a huge amount to address child sexual abuse in the church, Brisbane’s Archbishop says.

The 85-year-old Pope announced his decision to step down during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning (local time), saying age prevented him from carrying out his duties.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says it’s “simply wrong” to suggest the retiring Pope didn’t do enough to address the abuse issue.

He said before he became Pope, he had pursued the issue with then Pope John Paul II.

“To say that this Pope has done nothing I think just flies in the face of what I take to be the facts,” the archbishop told ABC TV.

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AUSTRALIA
The Global Mail

By Stephen Crittenden
February 12, 2013

The next pope will need to come to grips with the generations of systemic sexual abuse within the Catholic church. But in Australia, the spotlight is now on the credibility of protocols set up by the church to handle such claims.

Even before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse starts, Australia’s Catholic bishops know they have a problem.

Of all the matters the royal commission is expected to delve into over the coming years, the church’s own protocols for handling allegations of abuse will be one of the most important.

The Catholic church in Australia has two separate abuse protocols: Towards Healing, covering most Australian dioceses was introduced in 1997. The Melbourne Archdiocese is covered by what has come to be known as the Melbourne Response, introduced by Archbishop George Pell (now Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney) around the same time.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Australians are sharply divided over Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy on the vexed issue of church sexual abuse.

Supporters are hailing his efforts, but critics denounce his reign as one of concealment and cover-up.

The 85-year-old pontiff’s surprise decision to retire comes as Australia embarks on a three-year royal commission into child abuse, which victim groups have urged other nations to follow.

Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin, a PhD student studying sexual assault in the Catholic Church, said the Pope had been “absolutely appalling” in his handling of the global issue.

“There’s no doubt there’s been that culture of (the Catholic Church) protecting their assets and protecting their name by concealment and cover-up,” Ms Courtin told AAP on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, says there is a “continuing misconception” about what Pope Benedict XVI did to address child abuse in the Catholic church.

The 85-year-old pontiff’s surprise decision to retire comes as Australia embarks on a three-year royal commission into into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

In an online interview with the communications director of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Cardinal Pell addressed the allegation by victims’ groups and politicians that the Pope hadn’t done enough on the issue of Church sexual abuse.

“I think it’s a continuing misconception for a number of reasons,” he said.

“First of all, the overwhelming responsibility for meeting this crisis, this abuse, rests with the local hierarchy, the local bishops and the local religious superiors.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Sowetan

Pope Benedict XVI did nothing to punish pedophile priests or Church seniors who looked the other way, according to US and Irish victims hoping his successor will focus on fighting sex abuse.

Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called the outgoing pope’s record “dismal.”

“He has made lofty statements. He has not matched those statements with deed or action. Under his reign, the children remained at risk,” Blaine said.

In recent years, the United States and Ireland have been among several countries rocked by successive sex scandals involving members of the Catholic clergy and Church higher-ups accused of covering up abuses. …

“I’m very happy that the pope is resigning because he really did not do very much about clergy sexual abuse,” said Robert Hoatson, president of victims aid group Road To Recovery.

“The next pope has to tackle this issue. This is the most important issue because it concerns children, and it is a worldwide problem and the pope has to commission a group of expert to determine what has to be done to solve this problem.

“And if it means firing all the bishops that have covered up, so be it.”

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

Pope Benedict’s announcement Monday at a consistory, or gathering of cardinals considering candidates for the sainthood, caught many area religious authorities and local Vatican watchers by surprise.

“Popes in the modern day just don’t quit so one has to believe that Pope Benedict is pretty sick and that the stresses of the job are really beginning to take a toll on him,” said Mathew N. Schmalz, a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross.

Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus said he learned of the resignation after turning on the radio for the morning news. …

The groups said Pope Benedict “kept the culture of secrecy intact” and that he allowed hundreds of bishops who knew of the abuse to remain in their jobs.

“Instead of remedies, he gave us words. Instead of true penitence, he gave us public relations,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks priests accused of sexually abusing individuals. “His failure to enact real change in the church’s handling of sexually abusive priests will be his significant and shameful legacy.”

Ms. Doyle said Pope Benedict could have enacted true reform by forcing the immediate resignation of bishops who did little or nothing to stop predator priests. …

“Pope Benedict followed the same script church officials have used for years, speaking of abuse in oblique terms and only when forced to do so — ignoring the cover-ups, using past tense, as if to pretend clergy sex crimes and cover-ups are not still happening now,” added Barbara Dorris, a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

She said Pope Benedict still has time to “show true leadership and compassion” to take tangible action to safeguard vulnerable children.

Ms. Dorris urged the College of Cardinals to think about the sexually abused when picking a successor.

“For the church to truly embody the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ, it must be led by a pontiff who demands transparency, exposes child molesting clerics, punishes wrongdoers and enablers, cooperates with law enforcement and makes true amends to those who were hurt so greatly by Catholic priests, employees, and volunteers,” she said.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

MICHAEL VALPY
Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Feb. 12 2013

Benedict XVI’s eight-year reign as Pope was a losing battle against perception – most tellingly the perception that, as absolute ruler of the Roman Catholic Church, he did far less than enough to rid it of the cancer of sexually abusive priests and may have been complicit in its spread.

The 85-year-old German intellectual also vacates the Throne of St. Peter tarnished by accusations that he rejected all theological efforts to move Roman Catholicism toward a more progressive, contemporary morality and institutional comportment around feminism, sexual orientation and sexual behaviour, and ham-fistedly failed to reach out to those who seek God by other paths.

As well, he’s been given failing grades on his great goals of reigniting Christianity as the bedrock of European life and halting the spread of secularism and moral relativism in a materialist world.

Has it all been true? “Perception is 90 per cent of truth. It’s what people latch onto,” said Prof. Mark McGowan of University of Toronto’s St. Michael’s College, one of Canada’s outstanding scholars on the Catholic Church.

And yet the historical record of Benedict’s papacy is far more complex – perhaps no more so than on his record of handling the church’s horrific calumny of sex abuse.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
GoUpstate

A former youth pastor was sentenced to 15 years in prison last week at the conclusion of a four-day trial on a sex abuse charge in Union County, according to information released by the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

Stephen Douglas Berry, 40, was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He must serve 85 percent of the sentence and register as a sex offender. Berry, who previously served as the youth pastor at New Life Baptist Church in Union, was accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl over a six month period in 2010.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Staff | Feb. 11, 2013

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez’s public rebuke of his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, at the end of January was quickly described as unprecedented.

Sharply critiquing Mahony’s handling of sex abuse cases after the long-delayed release of church files made clear the cardinal had shielded abusive priests from public scrutiny and possibly law enforcement at the expense of children’s safety, Gomez announced Jan. 31 that his predecessor would “no longer have any administrative or public duties” in the archdiocese.

In a hierarchical system long known for prelates reluctant to criticize one another, the public rebuke was certainly rare. Yet a question remained: What does it mean?

On one level, Gomez’s move against Mahony has little practical impact. Following his initial announcement, Gomez clarified Feb. 1 that Mahony remained a bishop “in good standing,” able to celebrate the sacraments and minister regularly.

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VATICAN CITY
IBN Live

Rome: Pope Benedict leaves office having failed to stamp out the sexual abuse of children by priests and with the culture of secrecy that fostered the scandal still in place, groups representing some of the victims said on Monday. Bishops Accountability, a US pressure group, said the pope had apologised frequently for the harm done by priests but had never taken effective action to rectify the “incalculable harm” done to hundreds of thousands of children by predatory clergy.

“Benedict’s words rang hollow. He spoke as a shocked bystander, as if he had just stumbled upon the abuse crisis,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director said in a statement. The festering child abuse scandal broke out well before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took office in 2005 but it overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

Hundreds of victims came forward with devastating accounts of abuse suffered at the hands of priests sometimes over years that left them with deep psychological wounds. The scandal broke in Boston in 2002 when reports emerged of the systematic cover-up of sexual abuse, with guilty priests being quietly transferred between dioceses instead of being stripped of their office and handed over to civil authorities.

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UNITED STATES
PolicyMic

Hannah Kapp-Klote

The Catholic Church is a complicated political and legal entity with its own logic of accountability: priests who ordain women, like Father Roy Bourgeois, are excommunicated without ceremony, and priests who molest children, or aid in covering up the activities of such priests, are kept in the church, if not promoted. Before he was pope, Joseph Ratzinger acted was a top Vatican official, helping to re-locate a priest who sexually abused over 200 deaf boys. It’s impossible to adequately assess his papacy without discussing his role in covering up priests’ sexual abuse of children for decades, and prioritizing the public image of the Church over the well being of thousands of children.

The late atheist Christopher Hitchens was one of Ratzinger’s harshest critics, especially when it came to the church’s policy of self-policing:

“The accusations, intoned Ratzinger, were only treatable within the church’s own exclusive jurisdiction. Any sharing of the evidence with legal authorities or the press was utterly forbidden. Charges were to be investigated “in the most secretive way … restrained by a perpetual silence … and everyone … is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office … under the penalty of excommunication.”

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UNITED STATES
ABC News

[with video]

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN (@GoldmanRussell)

Feb. 11, 2013

When Pope Benedict XVI resigns at the end of this month, he leaves behind a Church grappling with a global fallout from sex abuse and a personal legacy marred by allegations that he was instrumental in covering up that abuse.

As the sex abuse scandal spread from North America to Europe, Benedict became the first pope to meet personally with victims, and offered repeated public apologies for the Vatican’s decades of inaction against priests who abused their congregants.

“No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse,” the pope said in a 2008 homily in Washington, D.C., before meeting with victims of abuse for the first time. “It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention.” During the same trip to the U.S., he met with victims for the first time.

For some of the victims, however, Benedict’s actions were “lip service and a public relations campaign,” said Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota lawyer who represents victims of sex abuse. For 25 years, Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Vatican office responsible for investigating claims of sex abuse, but he did not act until he received an explicit order from Pope John Paul II.

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UNITED STATES
Myrtle Beach Online

By MITCHELL LANDSBERG – Los Angeles Times

Time and again in his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out against the scourge of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, using words that would have been scarcely imaginable by his predecessors.

It was, he said, “evil,” “gravely immoral,” “a terrifying sign of the times.” He spoke of the “deep shame” and “humiliation” the scandal had brought on the Catholic Church. He apologized to victims.

Not long into his tenure, Benedict essentially banished an influential Mexican priest, Father Marcial Maciel, who had long been suspected of sexually abusing seminarians and boys in his care and had fathered at least three children. Benedict ordered investigations into sexual abuse and issued guidelines in 2010 that made it easier to punish abusive priests.

For all that, there were those who were ultimately disappointed by the pope’s record on the issue. Benedict never acquiesced to demands that he open Vatican records to outside scrutiny and almost never took action against those just below him – his bishops and cardinals – who failed to protect children from abusive priests.

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Raw Story

By Ian Traynor, The Guardian
Monday, February 11, 2013

For the legions of people whose childhoods and adult lives were wrecked by sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy, Pope Benedict XVI is an unloved pontiff who will not be missed.

Victims of the epidemic of sex- and child-abuse scandals that erupted under Benedict’s papacy reacted bitterly to his resignation, either charging the outgoing pontiff with being directly complicit in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the thousands of paedophilia cases that have come to light over the past three years, or with failing to stand up to reactionary elements in the church resolved to keep the scandals under wraps.

From Benedict’s native Germany to the USA, abuse victims and campaigners criticised an eight-year papacy that struggled to cope with the flood of disclosures of crimes and abuse rampant for decades within the church. Matthias Katsch, of the NetworkB group of German clerical-abuse victims, said: “The rule of law is more important than a new pope.”

Norbert Denef, 64, from the Baltic coast of north Germany, was abused as a boy by his local priest for six years. In 2003, Denef took his case to the bishop of Magdeburg. He was offered €25,000 (then £17,000) in return for a signed pledge of silence about what he suffered as a six-year-old boy. He then raised the issue with the Vatican and received a letter that said Pope John Paul II would pray for him so that Denef could forgive his molester.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Arthur Beesley

Background: Damning reports brought relations with the Vatican to an all-time low

Benedict XVI’s papacy came at a time of worsening relations between Ireland and the Vatican as the State deepened its investigations into clerical child abuse in the Catholic church.

The church’s response was found wanting as new light was cast on a legacy of brutal sexual violence against children and systematic cover-ups, sapping its moral authority and blunting its political influence.

A nadir was reached two years ago in the wake of the Cloyne report, when Taoiseach Enda Kenny castigated the Vatican in a Dáil speech for its “brazen disregard” for child protection.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

GERRY MORIARTY in Armagh

The Catholic Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady has indicated that he does not consider himself a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The Archbishop of Armagh, who will play a part in electing the next pontiff, said he would use the time ahead to reflect on how he might vote before travelling to Rome next month for the conclave of cardinals.

Asked what his response would be were he prevailed upon to be next pope, Cardinal Brady replied: “I don’t think that eventuality is likely to arise.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

Sex abuse Where Ireland is concerned, Pope Benedict XVI will probably be best remembered for his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland in 2010, following publication of the Murphy report the previous November.

The letter was unequivocal in its sympathy for victims of clerical child sex abuse and for what Irish Catholics had been through, but also in its criticisms of Irish church leadership.

It was followed by seven high-powered apostolic visitations to the four Irish Catholic archdioceses, the seminaries and religious congregations. The focus seemed to be on orthodoxy and on bringing the Irish church back into line, though few outside the church believed this was relevant to the abuse scandals.

As pope he has been proactive in his dealings with this issue, which so dominated his papacy. On all his trips abroad he has met abuse victims and has seen to it that the church is putting in place adequate child protection measures.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Lydia Mulvany of the Journal Sentinel

Feb. 11, 2013

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has helped victims in Milwaukee, said Monday that the Catholic Church must elect a new pope that protects children from clergy sexual abuse after Pope Benedict XVI resigns.

“For the Church to truly embody the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ, it must be led by a pontiff who demands transparency, exposes child-molesting clerics, punishes wrongdoers and enablers, cooperates with law enforcement, and makes true amends to those who were hurt so greatly by Catholic priests, employees and volunteers,” said Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, in a release.

Blaine said that the era of secrecy and coverups must end, and that victims of sexual abuse want to ensure that other children never experience what they did.

SNAP, which has more than 12,000 members, is the largest support group for clergy abuse victims. Victims include those who were molested by religious leaders in all denominations, including priests, nuns, rabbis and Protestant ministers.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
San Francisco Chronicle

MILWAUKEE (AP) — An advocacy group that has helped clergy abuse victims in Milwaukee says the Catholic Church must elect a new pope who protects children.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, issued a statement Monday after Pope Benedict announced he is retiring at the end of February due to health issues.

SNAP President Barbara Blaine says the Catholic Church must be led by a pontiff who demands transparency, exposes child-molesting clerics, punishes wrongdoers and cooperates with law enforcement.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/XDjRlW ) report Blaine also said the new pope needs to make “true amends” to those who were hurt by Catholic priests, employees and volunteers.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Denis Hamill

An Irish-American Pope would have made my mother’s life complete.

Hey, don’t laugh: Speculation swirls that New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan has an outside chance of succeeding retiring Pope Benedict.

In my mother’s home, the Pope was basically the King of the World.

My immigrant parents were raised Roman Catholics in the sectarian turmoil of Ulster, the six counties of Northern Ireland that in 1921 were divided from the 26 southern counties of the Republic of Ireland.

In Ulster, Protestant “loyalists” who swore allegiance to the British crown outnumbered Catholics, 2 to 1. My parents’ lives in Northern Ireland were defined by religious sectarianism akin to the way race has divided America. The reason my mother spelled my name with one N instead of the more common two in Dennis is because I was named for St. Denis, once the bishop of Paris. It didn’t matter that there were tasty rumors of St. Denis being a cannibal; he was an “R.C.”

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PHILIPPINES
GMA News

EARL VICTOR L. ROSERO, GMA NewsFebruary 12, 2013

Some Vatican observers said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, installed as a cardinal by the pope only last November, is one of the frontrunners to be the global Catholic Church’s next pope.

On Monday, 85-year-old German-born Pope Benedict XVI on Monday announced that he will resign on February 28, making him the first pope to do so in centuries.

Journalist John Allen Jr. of the United States-based National Catholic Reporter (NCR) has written extensively about the possible popes.

Even in 2011, when Tagle was not yet a cardinal and thus not yet eligible to become a pope, Allen already wrote that the Filipino priest was not only “a rising star in the Asian Church” but also a “papal contender.”

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI, who has announced he will resign on February 28, will retire to a monastery tucked away inside the historic walls of the Holy See: so once the new pope is elected, there will be a former pontiff and his successor living in the Vatican.

Benedict, 85, who said he was standing down due to old age, will temporarily stay at the papal summer house at Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

During that time, the Mater Ecclesiae monastery building within the Vatican grounds — an oasis of calm with its own vegetable garden and blooming flowerbeds — will be renovated.

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VIRGINIA
WTVR

[with video]

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – A group of protesters from the Virginia Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were in front of the Richmond Catholic Diocese asking for recognition of a man accused of sexually abusing more than 80 children.

Stephen Baker worked in Norfolk in the 1970s, and was accused of molesting children in three other states. He committed suicide in January, after settling 11 of the cases brought against him.

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VIRGINIA
WRVA

Richmond, VA (1140wrva.com) _ On the day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation effective February 28, a small group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a news conference outside the Richmond Catholic Diocese headquarters alleging that church officials in five states concealed child abuse allegatiions surrounding a priest who worked in Norfolk, and asking the diocese to determine whether there were any victims in Virginia.

The late Franciscan Brother Stephen Baker was assigned to the James Barry Robinson High School and Home for Boys in Norfolk in the 1970s. The High School closed in 1977 and became a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children.

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

‘Woefully inadequate’ or a ‘great reformer’: Child sex abuse crisis overshadows Benedict’s legacy

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

As Pope Benedict XVI’s prepares to step down, his legacy is being viewed through the prism of how he handled the child sex abuse crisis, with some observers saying he dealt with it aggressively while others calling his response to the scandals “woefully inadequate.”

During Benedict’s eight-year papacy, thousands of people came forward to claim that had been raped or molested by priests as children, and that bishops had covered it up.

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, it was Benedict’s old office that dealt with abuse cases, yet he never admitted failure by himself or of the Vatican, and never punished bishops who ignored or covered up the abuse.

“It’s hard to escape the fact that his biggest challenge was the sex abuse crisis and it really didn’t get better during his papacy,” said Michael D’Antonio, author of the upcoming book “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal.” “And in fact, one can see that the church declined in moral authority, especially in the developed world and that includes places like Ireland and Belgium, which were until a few years ago the most Catholic and the most conservatively Catholic countries in the world. And all of this, I really think is traceable to his failure.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Independent

Associated Press

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will review personnel files of allegedly abusive priests that were recently released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Scott said Monday the special victims bureau is reviewing all the files and comparing them to cases the department has already investigated to see if there are additional victims or if there are cases or crimes they weren’t aware of.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced a similar review last week. The two probes are independent, but Scott says resources may be shared.

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ARIZONA
KVOA

[with video]

Florence – We’ve been investigating a monastery mystery near Florence for 7 years. It’s a beautiful religious oasis but some parents say, it’s more like a cult.

St. Anthony’s Monastery sits on 106 acres of desert land. And it looked pretty much the same when we went back, recently, to walk the grounds.

A former monk killed himself outside of the monastery this past June. 25 year-old Scott Nevins from Modesto, CA was in our report 7-years ago.

In that report we showed you photos of Scott, provided by his family, where he appeared frail. He was one of about 50 monks inside St. Anthony’s Monastery at the time. He looked nothing like he had a year before he moved there.

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UNITED STATES
Newsbusters

By Matt Hadro | February 11, 2013

Right as CNN’s The Situation Room reported the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, correspondent Brian Todd launched into a litany of the “controversies” of his papacy and pushed the positive analysis to the bottom of his report.

“Pope Benedict’s papacy has been marked by serious controversies,” began anchor Wolf Blitzer. Todd followed up that as far as “controversies” were concerned, “there was certainly no shortage of those during his papacy.” [Video below the break. Audio here.]

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UNITED STATES
Opposing Views

By News Hounds, Mon, February 11, 2013

That the alleged “Fair & Balanced” Fox News is a propaganda vehicle for the conservative positions of the Catholic Church isn’t a surprise given that, along with the many Catholics in the ranks of *Fox hosts, there is a conservative Catholic near the top of the Fox News hierarchy. John Moody, Fox News Executive Vice President and executive editor is a staunch conservative Catholic who once wrote an article about how offended he was by Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s black liberation theology. And as Fox’s top RC, he used the alleged Fox News show “America’s Newsroom,” today, to discuss Pope Benedict’s resignation and, in so doing, positively gush over the awesomeness of the Pope. Alleged news host and conservative Catholic Martha MacCallum shared the love.

In introducing Moody, fellow Catholic Martha MacCallum noted that he wrote a biography of Pope John Paul II and interviewed the current pope. Moody, who wrote an article for the Fox website, “As Vatican Leader, Pope Benedict Never Had a Chance,” was just bursting with praise about the outgoing pontiff. He said that the resignation “was one of the bravest things I have ever heard of” and that this “reflects the kind of man and the kind of leader of the Church that he insisted on being.” (Right, offered an apology and not penalties for sexual abuse.)

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

11 February 2013

THE Martin McAleese Report on the Magdalene Laundries is a flawed document. It is not based on the best evidence. Its focus is inappropriately narrow. Its research, despite claims of prodigious hunting through the enormous ocean of state records, missed obvious and important information about the laundries.

Its terms of reference were wrong and have been dishonestly represented to the Irish people. The Government issued what can only be described as ‘a mandate both broad and narrow’. The narrow bit was “to establish the facts of state involvement with the Magdalene Laundries”. This was primitive and clumsy. Its objective seems to have been to find out where the State was at risk from legal pursuit.

The committee broadened this into ‘a Narrative Report’ on the laundries, into which they threw every possible document, many of which were absurd for the task at hand. For example, what are Tomas Derrig’s ‘Rules for the Industrial Schools’ doing as a grubby photocopy appendix version for St George’s Industrial School in Limerick, signed but not dated by the minister?

Industrial school rules had nothing to do with the laundry girls. They were lucky to get a faint whiff of education as they lifted their heads from the steaming cauldrons of filthy clothing that dominated their lives.

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NEW YORK
Politicker

By Colin Campbell

Earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI surprisingly announced his abidcation–the first time a Pope has stepped down since 1415–setting the stage for the dramatic process of electing a new Vatican leader. And, although Congressman Michael Grimm doesn’t get a vote in that select process, the Staten Island lawmaker wants everyone to know he’s backing New York’s own Cardinal Timothy Dolan for the holy vocation.

“It is too early to determine the full extent of Pope Benedict’s legacy; however, New Yorkers will never forget the gift he gave us with the elevation of Cardinal Dolan,” Mr. Grimm announced in a statement. “Cardinal Dolan has lifted the spirits of Catholics and non-Catholics throughout New York and the world, and renewed the faith of many. If it were up to me to pick the next pope, Cardinal Dolan would have my vote!”

Mr. Grimm, who is Catholic, additionally praised Pope Benedict’s unusual decision to step down, calling it “a sign of a great leader.”

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

The bookmakers in Europe already have their favorites, but the world won’t know who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI until that puff of white smoke is sent up the chimney of the conclave room next month.

The College of Cardinals has no shortage of factors to consider in picking the next pope — from age to geography — and no dearth of potential candidates.

Here are some of the princes of the church whose names have emerged from Vatican watchers since Monday’s surprise abdication announcement:

Cardinal Angelo Scola: He’s the archbishop of Milan, a good launching pad for popes, and the former Patriarch of Venice, which has also produced many a papal front-runner. Scola, 71, has close ties to the conservative Communion and Liberation movement, is a champion of immigrants’ right and has been active in outreach to the Muslim world. Vatican expert John Allen has written of Scola: “If you like Benedict XVI, you’ll love Scola; even if you don’t, you’ll find it hard not to be charmed.”

Cardinal Marc Ouellet: Former archbishop of Quebec, he heads the Congregation of Bishops, a power center. Ouellet, 68, speaks six languages, spent a decade as a missionary in Colombia and has strong ties to Latin and South America. He’s considered conservative and made headlines in 2010 when he said abortion was a “moral crime,” even in cases of rape. In a 2011 interview, he laughed off the idea of becoming pontiff, saying the workload and responsibility “would be a nightmare.”

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Cindy Horswell | February 11, 2013

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo – the first ever cardinal from the southern United States who also oversees the Houston-Galveston diocese – will be among the select few to not only chose the next pope but be a possible candidate.

But a betting website, paddypower.com, gave him only 100 to 1 odds of being picked as the pope’s successor from among the 54 possible candidates the site listed. DiNardo ranked 12th from the bottom, with Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana ranked first with 3 to 1 odds.

DiNardo, 62, is one of only 118 cardinals worldwide who are just one step below the pope.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Rita Price
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday February 11, 2013

A former central Ohio priest who spent a year in prison for molesting a 12-year-old boy has died.

Thomas L. McLaughlin, known as “Father Mac,” died last Wednesday at the age of 82.

McLaughlin was removed from his duties as pastor at Church of the Resurrection in New Albany months before he pleaded guilty in 1989 to molesting the child at the priest’s cottage at Indian Lake in Logan County. In exchange for the plea, charges that he had molested six other boys were not pursued.

McLaughlin also was pastor at St. Mary Church in Marion and served at other parishes in the Columbus diocese.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

As surprise washed over Catholic parishioners Monday after the resignation announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, retired nun Mary Dispenza was left saddened that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will have a hand in picking the pontiff’s successor.

Mahony, who was stripped of his public duties last month following new disclosures in the priest sex-abuse scandal, says he will travel to Rome to vote on the next pope.

“Cardinal Mahony still has his powers under the church’s law,” said Dispenza, who received a 2006 settlement from the archdiocese over claims of molestation by her parish priest in the 1940s.

“It is a sad commentary that he walk into Rome and cast his vote despite his behavior,” she said. “But church law is that way.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Weekly

By Dennis RomeroMon., Feb. 11 2013

If you thought Roger Mahony being stripped of his “duties” was a cop out intended to make you think the church was doing something regarding past priest abuse and the Cardinal’s strategy to transfer bad clergy away from the prying eyes of the law, you’re probably right.

It was a mild, public slap in the face (and Mahony responded by slapping back, if you’ll recall). Now the disgraced former leader of the L.A. Archdiocese is rubbing it in your face:

He gets to go to Rome and vote on the next pope. Yep, he even blogged about the honor today.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester

February 11, 2013, WORCESTER, MA — I was stunned when I heard the news early this morning that our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has decided to resign as Bishop of Rome and Universal Pastor of the Church, effective February 28, 2013. However, upon further reflection, this dramatic news does not completely surprise me.

As recently as 2011 in an interview with a German journalist, the Holy Father said, “When a Pope arrives at a clear awareness that he no longer has the physical, mental or psychological capacity to carry out the task that has been entrusted to him, then he has the right, and in some cases, the duty to resign.”

No doubt some people will offer reasons for the Holy Father’s decision to resign. At this point, all such explanations would be mere speculation. What we can say with certainty in that the Holy Father’s decision reflects his love for and commitment to promoting the good of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI has served the Church with extraordinary wisdom, unshakable faith and undaunted courage as a priest, theologian, cardinal and pope.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Digtriad

[with video]

Greensboro, NC — Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign at the end of February. Assistant Director of the Elon University Poll, Jason Husser explains how the resignation will affect the Catholic Church, politically.

Explain what this will do for the Catholic Church.

Husser: This resignation could cause lowered attendance for Catholics who aren’t deeply invested into the Church. For some Catholics who were already suspicious of the organization, this kind of unprecedented change will raise further doubts and confirm existing fears. As a result, I’d expect to see a decline in Catholic attendance, at least in the short term. In the unlikely event an American Cardinal is elected, interest in the Catholic Church will likely rise in the United States.

What are the political ramifications of the Pope’s resignation?

Husser: The resignation will probably help the Republican Party, though only slightly. If the resignation influences adherence rates in the United States, it will probably be among those who attend only occasionally. Those infrequent attenders are asymmetrically Democratic voters. As a result, the Catholic Church could become more homogeneously Republican, making Catholic voters an easier target for GOP politicians. Furthermore, if the Pope’s successor continues a theologically conservative movement, Catholic voters may become increasingly likely to vote for Republicans for social policy reasons.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Peter Mirus | February 11, 2013

Around the news sites and blogosphere, you have begun to see only the first of the many inaccurate, meaningless, irresponsible, and completely misinformed (not to mention heretical, in some cases) reporting on Pope Benedict’s resignation and the election of a new pope. Talking heads, so called “experts,” etc. will be put forward by the media and will seldom say anything correct or insightful. Here are some examples for you from the Wall Street Journal.

•”The cardinals will look for ‘someone who has a combination of theological stances, but who also best addresses where we are seeing the church going today,’ said Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.”

•”‘The pontificate of Benedict has combined tradition and innovation. I don’t believe that the conclave will break up this heritage,’ said Francesco Perfetti, professor of contemporary history at Luiss Univerisity.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News

[Cardinal Mahony’s statement]

By Barbara Jones and Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writers
dailynews.com
Posted: 02/11/2013

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony will be among those traveling to Rome next month to participate in a papal conclave to elect a successor to retiring Pope Benedict XVI.

The 210-member College of Cardinals elects the pope, but only those under age 80 can participate in the secret election.

“Surely one of his great legacies will be a continuing emphasis on the need for all Catholics to exercise their role as evangelizers in the world,” the 78-year-old cardinal said in a statement. “His focus upon the new evangelization will continue to enliven all disciples of Jesus.”

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VATICAN CITY
SBS (Australia)

Widely seen as an ultra-conservative, the first German pope in history has proved in many ways more flexible and modern than his Polish predecessor.

Pope Benedict XVI will leave behind a Catholic Church grappling with crises from child abuse scandals involving priests to confronting radical Islam as well as struggling to find its place in an increasingly secular Western world.

German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who will step down at the end of this month after an eight-year pontificate, was elected pope on April 19, 2005 at a time when anger at clerical abuse was at its height in parts of Europe and North America, shaking the faith of many ordinary Catholics.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A MELBOURNE priest claims the extra strain placed on Pope Benedict from dealing with widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church may have been a factor in his resignation.

Father Max Vodola said the elderly Pope’s shock exit from the role may be because he is too physically and emotionally weak to deal with the decades-old problem.

It comes as Archbishop Denis Hart leads Victorian tributes to the Pope, who he describes as gentle and loving.

“Trying to correct the errors that went as far back as 50 years would be an immense shame and embarrassment, and would require the right protocols in place to deal with it,” Father Vodola said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Southern Illinoisan

CHICAGO (AP) — Cardinal Francis George of Chicago plans on attending his second papal conclave next month.

Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he would resign Feb. 28, becoming the first pope in 600 years to step down. Cardinal George talked to reporters Monday about the expected March conclave to replace the pontiff. George previously attended the conclave in 2005 that elected Benedict after Pope John Paul II died.

George says he feels more experienced now and would spend more time asking questions and getting impressions of his fellow cardinals. The Roman Catholic Church elects a new pope from among its cardinals. George says he would make better use of his time before voting begins.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

Monday, 11 February 2013
Written by Jay Balagna

Chilean gay rights group Movilh expressed its hopes Monday for a supporter to land in the Vatican’s top spot after news of Pope Benedict XVI´s plans for retirement spread around the world.

The statement, which lists the Movilh’s complaints over Benedict’s stance against homosexuality, calls for members of the church and its clergy to press for the election of a new pope with a more accepting viewpoint.

The statement comes in contrast to official reactions to the news from around the world, including that of the Chilean government. In a statement, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera called the announcement “an act of courage and of conscience.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Sioux City Journal

Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony will help elect a new pope, despite recently being rebuked for not doing more to stop sexual abuse by priests when he led the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Mahony has been barred from public duties in the archdiocese by the current archbishop because of revelations about his past handling of clergy pedophile cases. But Mahony remains in good standing as archbishop emeritus.

Mahony says he looks forward to traveling to Rome to participate in the conclave that will choose the next pope.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KPCC

UPDATE 2:39 p.m. Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez began Monday’s mid-day mass by praying for Pope Benedict, who announced his surprise resignation on Monday, then spoke glowingly about the Pontiff who placed him in his current post.

“His decision to resign is a beautiful, Christ-like act of humility and love for the church,” Gomez said. “This is the act of a Saint, who thinks not about himself but only about the will of God, and the good of God’s people.”

Gomez informed parishioners at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in downtown L.A. of the coming conclave of cardinals that will choose the next pope.

His predecessor in L.A., Cardinal Roger Mahony, plans to attend. Mahony was recently pulled from daily duties in the L.A. Archdiocese amidst a scandal over how Mahony handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests. (You can view Mahony’s full statement on the Pope’s resignation below; the story continues beneath the window.)

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Mon Feb 11, 2013

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict would not be the meticulous theologian he has always been if he didn’t make sure even his shocking resignation – the first by a pontiff in over 700 years – was fully in line with Roman Catholic doctrine.

His announcement was so stunning that many Catholics will have instinctively asked if a pope is allowed to step down. For many of them, Pope John Paul’s long and very public agony before he died in 2005 is the iconic image of the end of a papacy.

But the Code of Canon Law, the legal corpus governing the Church, clearly provides for a papal resignation in its Canon 332. John Paul mentioned it in a detailed 1996 document that laid down the procedure for electing a new pope.

Benedict’s reputation as an orthodox and self-effacing pope ensures there will be few questions about the legality of the move and will reduce speculation that he plans to continue to play a decisive role behind the scenes.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 11, 2013

By stepping down, Pope Benedict has proven he’s capable of bold action. For the safety of children, in the weeks ahead, we hope he’ll show similar decisiveness and

—discipline at least a handful of current prelates who are concealing or who have concealed child sex crimes,

–insist that every bishop post names of the credibly accused predator priests on his website (as 30 US bishops have done: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm),

–order bishops to actively work with lawmakers to pass stronger child safety measures and reform archaic laws that shield officials who commit and conceal child sex crimes,

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

February 11, 2013 by Susan Matthews

The U.S. broadcast news, with the notable exception of Cokie Roberts – whose mother was ambassador to the Vatican, seems clueless in regard to the mindset of the College of Cardinals. These insulated, arrogant, elderly men wrapped in robes don’t bother themselves with the daily life of the average American.

They are not concerned with popularity or being liked. I can assure you that none of them came up with the idea of the Pope having a twitter account. All this might be fine if their focus was on protecting Church doctrine against decaying modern morals.

Over the course of several hundred years, the College of Cardinals has proven its primary concern is maintaining a Machiavellian grip on money and power. They wield Tradition – capital T – in order to do so. That’s not O.K.

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ROME
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY And GIADA ZAMPANO

ROME—The sudden nature of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure could affect the profile of his successor, in part because voting cardinals will have little time to strategize about who the next pontiff should be.

A speedy decision is likely to favor a compromise figure that is similar to Pope Benedict: a traditionalist in doctrine, but open to building bridges between the Vatican and the modern world, Vatican experts said.

The cardinals will look for “someone who has a combination of theological stances, but who also best addresses where we are seeing the church going today,” said Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.

The Papal conclave—the secretive meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope—is expected to start shortly after the end of this month, when the 85-year-old pontiff said he would step down.

A main question facing the conclave is about style. The cardinals will likely debate whether to select a low-key gradualist or someone who is going to govern with grand gestures, such as Pope Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II.

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VATICAN CITY
Mirror (United Kingdom)

[with photo of the lightning strike]

This was the moment lightning struck the Vatican today – hours after Pope Benedict XVI’s bolt-from-the-blue resignation.

The lightning touched the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the holiest Catholic churches, after the Pope’s shock admission he lacks strength to do the job.

The Vatican stressed that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict’s decision to quit – the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

The move surprised even his closest aides, even though Benedict, 85, had made clear in the past he would step down if he became too old or infirm.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

James Mackenzie
Reuters
3:43 p.m. CST, February 11, 2013

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Benedict leaves office having failed to stamp out the sexual abuse of children by priests and with the culture of secrecy that fostered the scandal still in place, groups representing some of the victims said on Monday.

Bishops Accountability, a U.S. pressure group, said the pope had apologized frequently for the harm done by priests but had never taken effective action to rectify the “incalculable harm” done to hundreds of thousands of children by predatory clergy.

“Benedict’s words rang hollow. He spoke as a shocked bystander, as if he had just stumbled upon the abuse crisis,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director said in a statement.

The festering child abuse scandal broke out well before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took office in 2005 but it overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: February 11, 2013

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise decision to resign on Monday immediately set off a flurry of speculation about his replacement, who will be called upon to guide the Roman Catholic Church through an increasingly secular era in which the church has lost the certainty it claimed for centuries.

Some Vatican observers predicted that the growing importance of the developing world to the church could weigh on the decision and, perhaps, lead to the choice of a non-European pope. But the voting bloc of cardinals coming from Europe remains sizable and influential, experts said.

“It’s a premature question, though it’s clear that two non-Italian popes in a row have broken the notion that the pope has to be Italian,” said Alberto Melloni, a historian of the Roman Catholic Church and director of the John XXIII Center in Bologna, a liberal Catholic research institute. “But the church is not the Austro-Hungarian Empire where leaders alternate between countries. The pope is first of all bishop of Rome, and then the leader of the universal church.”

Vatican experts argued that vision, rather than geography, would likely determine who would replace Benedict, and that the ability to communicate with a distracted world would be high on the list of desirable qualities. As nearly all of the cardinals eligible to vote were appointed by the current pope or his predecessor, John Paul II, it is likely that the next pope will share strong continuity in terms of vision and doctrine.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
February 11, 2013

MONTREAL – If a Canadian does become the next pope and spiritual leader to the world’s one billion Catholics, the story of his ascension will begin, appropriately enough, on a hockey rink.

The moment of inspiration where Marc Cardinal Ouellet decided he should pursue the priesthood came as he nursed a broken leg, sustained during a hockey game.

Longtime friend Lionel Gendron, a Quebec bishop, says that at the time the teenaged Ouellet was studying in northwestern Quebec to be a teacher.

He says Ouellet was an excellent hockey player.

He says the 68-year-old Ouellet still plays the game with his nephews when he visits his family in Quebec.

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AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

By NICK MILLER
Feb. 12, 2013

THE surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI – the first by a pontiff for almost 600 years – has led to calls for his replacement to be the Catholic Church’s first black leader.

In a letter to his Catholic brethren Pope Benedict, 85, said his advanced age and the pace of change in the modern world had left him unable to “adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me”.

Tributes have poured in from religious and political figures around the world – but many also expressed their shock at the news.

Some commentators argued that the Roman Catholic Church should take the opportunity to modernise, after eight years under Pope Benedict in which it was accused of being overly conservative, and hobbled by sexual abuse scandals.

Cardinal George Pell, born and educated in the Victorian town of Ballarat, has long been touted as a candidate for Pope.

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VATICAN CITY
KTAR

(AP) – Pope Benedict XVI set clear and ambitious goals for his papacy quickly after he was elected: He hoped to re-evangelize the increasingly secular West. He would show that religious faith and reason could co-exist in the modern world. He would reach out to traditionalists who had split from the church and shore up Catholic identity.

He came into the papacy with the reputation of a brilliant theologian; nearly eight years later, he leaves the Holy See with that reputation intact. But because of burdens he inherited and ongoing problems in his own pontificate, Benedict fell short of the mark he set for himself on unifying the church, building relationships with other religions and restoring the church’s influence in broader society.

A look at some aspects of his legacy:

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE: Benedict dedicated his pontificate to stemming the spread of secularism, especially in Europe, where church attendance has dwindled. He condemned same-sex marriage, argued that gender had become something chosen instead of given from God, and said lack of belief was dangerous, pointing to violence that resulted when past atheist governments “tried to stamp out the light of God to instead turn on illusory and misleading glows.” Yet even as he made his arguments, acceptance of same-sex relationships grew throughout Europe and the United States. …

VATICAN SCANDALS: Some major scandals shook the Vatican during Benedict’s pontificate. In 2010, the Holy See’s top two banking officials came under scrutiny in a money-laundering inquiry that resulted in millions of euros being seized from a Vatican bank account. The pope hired a Swiss expert a few months ago to help upgrade safeguards against wrongdoing, but problems remained. Meanwhile, the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to prison after stealing the pope’s personal correspondence and leaking the documents to a journalist. Gabriele said he thought the pope wasn’t being informed of the “evil and corruption” in the Vatican. Benedict later pardoned him.

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MAINE
Seacoast Online

By Laura Dolce
ldolce@seacoastonline.com

February 11, 2013

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — When Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would be retiring at the end of the month, he may have caught the world by surprise, but for Maine’s Monsignor Charles Murphy, there were signs more than a year ago that the pope was struggling.

“I saw him last in December 2011 and his walk was very impaired,” said Murphy, director of deacons for the Archdiocese of Portland and the author of several books, including The Spirituality of Fasting and Eucharistic Adoration. “He had to be wheeled around. But mentally, he was very sharp.”

Murphy, who spent more than a decade of his life in Vatican City, first as a student from 1958 to 1962, and then as rector of the North American College for seminarians from 1978 to 1985, visits each year and said Benedict’s stepping down was “unprecedented.”

“John Paul II wouldn’t, even with advanced Parkinson’s,” he said. “He’d say, ‘Do you ask the father of the family to retire?’”

Benedict, Murphy said, was “more realistic.” Chosen to serve as an “interim” pope following the long term of John Paul II, he understood that his role was to give the cardinals a chance to “regroup and rethink.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

STATEMENT on the RESIGNATION of POPE BENEDICT XVI

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles

February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has been an extraordinary Successor to St. Peter these past eight years, and I thank God for the graces and blessings which have come to the Church and to the world during his Pontificate.

It was my privilege to participate in the Conclave of April 2005 when Pope Benedict was elected. I recall so clearly his words when he told the Cardinals that he was choosing the name of Benedict because of his fondness for the prayerfulness and the Rule of St. Benedict, and also because Pope Benedict XV [1914—1920] served during a time of turmoil and wars across the world.

Pope Benedict XVI began his Petrine ministry from a firm foundation of prayer, holiness, and remarkable scholarship. Before the end of 2005 he issued Deus Caritas Est, a letter on the virtue and gift of charity and love among the disciples of Jesus Christ. Two more followed: one on hope in 2007, the third on faith in 2009.

His homilies and addresses were so amazing because he was not speaking about Jesus Christ as a topic, but he was speaking about Jesus from a deep and intimate knowledge of Jesus himself. It was that attraction to the person of Jesus Christ which flowed from all his many teachings for the Church and the world.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Mercury News

By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press
Posted: 02/11/2013

LOS ANGELES—Cardinal Roger Mahony will help elect a new pope despite recently being rebuked for not doing more to stop sexual abuse by priests when he led the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Mahony, 76, made no reference to the scandal when he issued a statement Monday saying he would be among the cardinals who will choose the next pope.

“I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the church, and to participate in the conclave to elect his successor,” Mahony said.

Benedict, 85, announced Monday that he will resign on Feb. 28 because of failing health.

Mahony stepped down as head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2011 after reaching retirement age. Long seen as a progressive leader who supported immigrant rights in an area with an enormous Spanish-speaking population, Mahony’s reputation was tainted by the abuse scandal that resulted in a record $600 million payout to more than 500 plaintiffs who sued the church over abuse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
T Online

Geahnt hatten es Vatikan-Insider schon lange: Papst Benedikt XVI. – ehemals Josef Ratzinger – würde vermutlich nicht bis zum bitteren Ende durchhalten. Was jedoch treibt das Oberhaupt der katholischen Christenheit zu einem Schritt, den sich seit 1294 kein Pontifex mehr zu gehen gewagt hat?

Christian Feldmann, Ratzinger-Biograf aus Regensburg, ist einer der Experten, die mit dem Rücktritt gerechnet hatten. “Benedikt war schon immer ein schrecklich verzagter Charakter”, so Feldmann zu t-online.de. Der Papst sei einerseits bescheiden, vor allem aber “sehr ängstlich sowie zum Rückzug und zum Pessimismus neigend”.

Seine Betrachtung der Welt sei keineswegs “sieghaft-hoffnungsfroh”, sondern skeptisch, was den Fortgang der Dinge und den Charakter des Menschen angehe. Sein Handeln sei geprägt von der Angst vor einem Dammbruch, dem Moment, an dem alles in seiner Kirche auseinanderläuft.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources says he is sure the state will behave appropriately, once the Taoiseach and Tanaiste meet with some of the survivors of the Magdalene Launderies today.

Pat Rabbitte was responding to questions about whether or not the Government will apologise to the women.

It follows last week’s report which detailed clear evidence of State involvement in how women were sent to the laundries, and in how the work-houses were operated.

The Justice for Magdalenes group has reservations about today’s meeting and has asked for clarification on the nature of it before deciding whether to attend.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

What is Pope Benedict XVI’s rush? If the Catholic Church can survive a month without a new Pope, it can survive six months as well. In the past decade, it has survived with a seriously ill Pope, John Paul II, and a very old Pope, Benedict XVI. The Catholic Church needs to be fixed and 120 Cardinals in red dresses marching around St. Peter’s Square on short notice is no way to do that.

Of course, Pope Benedict and his Vatican clique of mainly Italian Cardinals must know this and apparently intend to try to stampede the many shell-shocked Cardinals. Are Cardinals all that naive? Are they so impressed with Pope Benedict’s performance that they are prepared to rubber-stamp his hand picked successor? A mere third of the voting Cardinals can forestall any Vatican clique favored candidate until the Catholic Church structure is fixed.

Many Cardinals are likely to face criminal prosecutors during the next Pope’s reign. Unlike in the Reformation, they have no European monarchs protecting them from imprisonment. As an experienced Harvard Law trained and now retired international lawyer, I would advise any Cardinals who were my clients to go slower here. Fix the Church now. You will not be able to do that if you are behind bars. This is likely to be many Cardinals’ last chance to save themselves. Look what happened to Cardinal Mahony, who apparently has just been fed, in effect, to the Los Angeles prosecutors by a public shaming evidentally with the Pope’s blessing. Who will be next?

Yes, go to Rome, but demand first that a conference be convened soon before any election to be held far away from Rome to address seriously and comprehensively the Church’s major problems, which are just getting worse with the recent decades of papal inattention.

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