Pope’s Remarks on Sex Scandal ‘Meaningless’: American Victims

A US group supporting the victims of the Catholic Church sex scandal has said that the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday about the scam are meaningless and a poor substitute for action, reported AFP.

On a plane taking him to Portugal for a four-day visit, Benedict had said that the long-running abuse scandal tainting his five years in the Vatican was a ‘truly terrifying’ evil that came from within the Church itself, report said.

The media persons accompanying Pope on the plane praised him for his statement calling it the strongest statement the 83-year-old pontiff has made to date on the painful issue, said report.

However, Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), rejected the pope’s statements as ‘pretty meaningless’, report said.

“There is no action,” Blaine, who was herself abused by a priest when she was 13,  was quoted as saying.

“None of the words that he said today make children any safer than before he spoke the words,” Blaine was quoted as saying.

“Previous to this, he was pointing fingers at the press, saying you were anti-Catholic. He said victims who spoke up were engaging in petty gossip.

“He may have stopped that extreme pointing of fingers, but he hasn’t taken any action that will protect children,” Blaine was quoted as saying.

Benedict’s papacy has been rocked by allegations that the Vatican protected pedophile priests from prosecution in Europe and the United States, and that he knew about several cases of predator priests, prior to becoming pope, but took no action against them.

SNAP wants the Vatican to take concrete steps to protect children from pedophile priests, including firing bishops who protect them, handing such priests over to the secular authorities, and establishing a website with a database of the names of abusive clergy members.