I didn’t try to cover up child abuse, says Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI has denied trying to cover up cases of child abuse in the Catholic Church in extracts of a letter published by Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The letter was addressed to Italian mathematician and philosopher Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who published a book in 2011, Dear Pope, I’m Writing You, which challenged Benedict’s trilogy of books on Jesus of Nazareth.

Benedict XVI wrote: “I never tried to cover up these things. That the power of evil penetrates to such a point in the interior world of the faith is, for us, a source of suffering. On the one hand we must accept that suffering, and on the other, at the same time, we must do everything possible so that such cases aren’t repeated.

“It’s also not a motive for comfort to know that, according to sociological research, the percentage of priests guilty of these crimes is no higher than in other comparable professional categories. In any event, one must not stubbornly present this deviance as if it were a nastiness specific to Catholicism.”  (more...)

I didn’t try to cover up child abuse, says Benedict XVI