CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press
By: Brad Oswald
It’s a historical documentary with current and ongoing implications, and the events of the past week have made it more timely now than when it was made.
The harrowing church-abuse film Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God takes the position that the trail of denials and coverups related to sexual-abuse charges against Catholic priests reaches all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.
The announcement this week that Pope Benedict XVI will resign — the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years — gives added weight to filmmaker Alex Gibney’s (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) assertion that the pontiff’s role in the scandal, most notably back when he was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the man directly in charge of dealing with all sex-abuse charges directed at the Catholic church, can no longer be deflected or ignored.
In announcing his resignation, Pope Benedict cited his age and failing health. In interviews this week, Gibney — who is in Britain promoting the U.K. premiere of Mea Maxima Culpa — said he’s convinced the sudden departure must be at least partially related to growing global pressure.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.