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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