NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
The next Pope needs to be much more than a holy man, teacher and shepherd to the estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics worldwide and a better manager of the Vatican’s internal bureaucracy than his predecessor, several New Hampshire Catholics said.
But Pope Benedict XVI’s successor must be much more.
The new pontiff must continue to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis and – perhaps most importantly – confront what several clerics call the “godless” agenda of the primarily secular Western world that threatens to strip people of their humanity and seeks to silence the voice of religion. …
Clergy sexual abuse
While Catholics hold widely varying opinions on qualities the next Pope should have, most agree he must be committed to resolving the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
“It’s paramount,” Frontiero said. Benedict, he said, made “some progress in the accountability of bishops.”
“That progress needs to continue and there needs to be transparency … We can’t evade these things any more. We’ve got to handle them directly. Accountability, especially among the bishops, is critical,” he added.
Guevin added that “we need a Pope who would continue to address the clergy abuse scandal to make it clear to the bishops that … they really try to make it a priority to protect children.”
Longtime advocate of abuse victims, Carolyn Disco of Merrimack, said the only viable candidate for the post is Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
“There is a zero chance for his election, but he ‘gets it’,” Disco said in an e-mail response. Martin admitted bishops covered up clergy sexual abuse, voluntarily released church files to government-sanctioned investigators and served in the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, said Disco, who is New Hampshire Voice of the Faithful’s survivor support chairman.
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