ROME
Telegraph (UK)
A clergy abuse victims group has named cardinals from Austria and the Philippines as the only papal contenders untainted by sex abuse scandals.
By Nick Squires, Rome
10:56AM GMT 08 Mar 2013
Only two of the dozen cardinals in the running to become the next Pope are “clean” in terms of their handling of scandals involving sexually abusive priests, a prominent association of victims of clergy sex abuse said on Thursday.
The damning indictment came as it was claimed that there were up to 20 moles inside the Vatican prepared to leak more confidential documents in order to expose corruption, following the example of Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, who was jailed for theft after handing a stash of stolen papers to an Italian journalist.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the vast majority of cardinals are tainted by having ignored cases of predatory priests or by having actively covered them up and impeded efforts by police and prosecutors to bring the offenders to justice.
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