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| Pope Benedict XVI gestures from his popemobile as he leaves a youth gathering, in St. Peter's square, at the Vatican, Thursday, March 25, 2010. The Vatican on Thursday strongly defended its decision not to defrock an American priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin and denounced what it called a campaign to smear Pope Benedict XVI and his aides. Church and Vatican documents showed that in the mid-1990s, two Wisconsin bishops urged the Vatican office led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now the pope, to let them hold a church trial against the Rev. Lawrence Murphy. The bishops admitted the trial was coming years after the alleged abuse, but argued that the deaf community in Milwaukee was demanding justice from the church. |
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A top Vatican cardinal is calling for "housecleaning" and urging the Roman Catholic Church to be more alert and brave in dealing with cases of clerical sex abuse.
Cardinal Walter Kasper has also defended the pope, saying he was the first to recognize the need for a harsher stance against offenders. He says attacks on Pope Benedict XVI go "beyond any limit of justice and loyalty."
The sex abuse scandal has moved across Europe and into Benedict's native Germany. It has touched the pontiff himself with a case dating to his tenure as archbishop of Munich.
Kasper said in an interview published Saturday in the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that the church needs to be more vigilant. He said the path the church is on is "irreversible."
