 |
Pope
Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during
the Angelus prayer from his studio
overlooking St.
Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, June 17,
2012. (AP
Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
|
VATICAN
CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI told Irish Catholics on Sunday it is a mystery
why priests and other clergy abused children entrusted in their care,
undermining faith in the church in an `'appalling" way.
By calling
the cause of the abuse - often over a period of decades - in Catholic parishes,
schools and church-run institutions and parishes in predominantly Catholic
Ireland a `'mystery," the pontiff could further anger rank-and-file
faithful in Ireland.
Benedict
commented on the scandals of sexual abuse and cover-ups by church hierarchy in
a pre-recorded video message for the closing session of a week-long gathering
in Dublin aimed at shoring up flagging faith, including obligatory Mass
attendance.
The
Eucharistic Congress, held by the Vatican every four years in a different part
of the world, came against a backdrop of deep anger over child abuse cover-ups
and surveys showing declining weekly Mass attendance in Ireland, where church
and state were once tightly entwined.
Dublin
Archbishop Diarmiud Martin has said the church in Ireland is facing a grave
fight for survival.
`'Your
forbears in the church in Ireland knew how to strive for holiness and constancy
in their personal lives," Benedict said in his message.
In a
reference to the Vatican's insistence on Sunday Mass attendance, Benedict said
that Catholic faith `'is a legacy that is surely perfected and nourished"
at Mass.
Yet, he
said, `'thankfulness and joy at such a great history of faith and love have
recently been shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by
priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care."
`'Instead
of showing them the path towards Christ, toward God, instead of bearing witness
to his goodness, they abused people and undermined the credibility of the
church's message," the pope said.
For more
than a decade, advocates for those abused by clergy have been demanding that
church leaders in Ireland and at the Vatican accept blame for protecting
pedophile priests.
Four
state-ordered investigations have documented how tens of thousands of children
from the 1940s to the 1990s suffered sexual, physical and mental abuse at the
hands of priests, nuns and church staff in three Irish dioceses and in a
network of workhouse-style residential schools.
In Ireland,
the United States and many other countries, bishops and other church leaders
have been accused of systematically covering up pedophile priests, often by
shuffling them from parish to parish without telling the faithful about the
abuse.
While there
have been demands from Irish rank-and-file Catholics, including those who
suffered abuse from clergy, for accountability from church hierarchy,
Benedict's answer as to why the abuse occurred dealt with the spiritual and not
the administrative level.
`'How are
we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord's body and
confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this
way?" the pope, referring to the abusive clergy. `'It remains a
mystery."
He added
that `'evidently their Christianity was no longer nourished by joyful encounter
with Jesus Christ. It had become merely a matter of habit."
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