VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)
Emeritus Pope Benedict denies covering up abuse scandal and defends Christianity to atheists as he emerges from long silence
By MARK DUELL
PUBLISHED: 18:57 EST, 24 September 2013
Benedict XVI has emerged from his self-imposed silence of seven months to deny covering up the sexually abusive priests scandal and defend Christianity to non-believers.
The emeritus pope released a letter to one of Italy’s best-known atheists, which was his first work published since he retired – and his first-ever denial of personal responsibility for the sex scandal.
But what made the letter published yesterday in Italy’s La Repubblica more remarkable was that it appeared just two weeks after Pope Francis penned a similar note to the newspaper’s atheist editor.
It gives evidence that the two men in white, who live across the Vatican gardens from one another, are of the same mind about the need for such dialogue and may even be collaborating on it.
The Vatican said the letters’ appearance was just a coincidence. Benedict wrote his to mathematician and atheist Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who in 2011 penned a book titled ‘Dear Pope, I’m Writing to You.’
The book was Mr Odifreddi’s reaction to Benedict’s classic ‘Introduction to Christianity’. In his book, Mr Odifreddi posed a series of arguments about Catholicism, including the sex abuse scandal.
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