VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI recognizes the damage and pain caused by the clergy sex abuse crisis and will seek to heal wounds during his U.S. trip next week, the Vatican's No. 2 official said Tuesday.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Benedict will deliver a message of "trust and hope" when he meets American clergy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
Benedict "will try to open the path of healing and reconciliation," said Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state.
The abuse crisis has caused "so much suffering for the victims, for the families of the victims and above all to the church because it was a contradiction with the great educational mission of the church," Bertone lamented during the 30-minute interview in the frescoed Treaty Hall of the Apostolic Palace.
U.S. dioceses have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims since the crisis began six years ago in Boston, where Cardinal Bernard Law ultimately resigned as archbishop. Nearly 14,000 molestation claims have been filed against Catholic clergy since 1950 — a substantial chunk of them in recent years.
Catholics in Boston had hoped Benedict would visit their city in the wake of the scandal. Bertone said Benedict, who will turn 81 during next week's visit to the U.S., is fit but could not meet all the invitations from U.S. cities and had to limit himself to Washington and New York.
"The pope is well, everyone sees it, all those who are near to him see his freshness," Bertone said.
Turning to security during the visit, the cardinal said he is aware of anti-papal rhetoric from Islamic extremists. But he noted that Benedict visited the predominantly Muslim nation of Turkey in 2006, just two months after he touched off a fury in the Islamic world by linking that faith to violence in a speech in his native Germany.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden recently accused the pope of helping in a "new Crusade," but Bertone said "I must say the Holy Father is very tranquil and serene. ... We have faith in the means of protection the government will implement."
"He entrusts himself to God and also to his guardian angels who won't be lacking on this trip to the United States," Bertone said with a smile.
Bertone worked as a close aide to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when the future pope headed the Vatican's office supervising doctrinal orthodoxy. He then served as archbishop of Genoa before Benedict appointed him secretary of state.
He now plays a highly visible role in the papacy.
Bertone was in Cuba on a long-scheduled visit when Raul Castro assumed the presidency in February, and their discussions touched on political prisoners in Cuba and Cubans jailed for spying in the United States.
The cardinal reiterated the Vatican's long-held position against the U.S. embargo against Cuba and some European Union sanctions in his interview with the AP.
Bertone, who will be meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, said the embargo "does not help the positive development of Cuban society, rather it impedes it."
"The role of the church in Cuba is recognized. I would like to make a positive observation — also comparing to other nations of the world — that Cuba, even under the regime of Fidel Castro — never interfered with the nomination and election of bishops of the Catholic Church." Continue >>
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There is no doubt that the practice of imposed celibacy played a factor in these abuse cases. The real reason for this imposed celibacy is that the RCC does not want to bear the responsibility of financially supporting entire families. I have been told this by several of their members. They could have avoided all of these lawsuits if they would have removed these priests to begin with instead of shuffling them around from parish to parish.
It is agreed that the RCC should allow married clergy, at least on the priestly level. I really do not see how it is so helpful to their position, and early tradition goes against it.
The 66 books charge is a little more difficult. You are saying that the Apocrypha should not have been included in the Bible, however the case is not so clear against it. It seems that Jesus and the Apostles used the Septuagint, and may even have quoted from the Apocrypha. The Jews of that time used it as well, and it was only 100-200 years later that the Jewish community largely rejected it in favor of the masoretic texts.
The pope would do well if he would stop demanding celibacy from his priests and no marriage, as these are NOT biblical, celibacy should be a choice. He has made it mandatory in the catholic church. Also the pope's call for unity among christians can only come when the catholic church starts obeying the 66 books of GODS word, not their own version's. All denominations need to examine their hearts and get right with GOD before pushing for unity. IN JESUS NAME