Pope Begs Forgiveness for Sexual Abuse, But Then Blames Devil and Fails to Act

What do Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI have in common? Both are great at making promises of decisive action and then doing nothing to follow through. Both seem to think that if they say the right things they can avoid taking any meaningful action. In the case of Obama, it's his constant oratory to LGBT Americans who in the next breath he throws under the bus. With Benedict XVI, he claims that the institutional Church is contrite over its horrific sexual abuse of children and minors, but then he does nothing to remove from the ranks of the hierarchy those involved in enabling and covering up abuse. Of course, this would also mean that Benedict would need to resign himself to fully set thing right. The Huffington Post has coverage on Benedict XVI's latest crocodile tears which, without concrete action are meaningless. The fact that Benedict tries to blame the Devil for the explosion of the abuse scandal all across Europe demonstrates that no serious action will be forthcoming. Indeed, if Benedict wants to see the face of the Devil, he need only look in the mirror and the faces of a majority of the U.S. Catholic Bishops. Here are some story highlights:
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VATICAN CITY — Addressing the clerical abuse scandal from the heart of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI begged forgiveness Friday from victims and promised at a Mass to "do everything possible" to protect children.
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While symbolic, Benedict's pledge failed to satisfy victims groups who said promises were useless without a clear-cut action plan to root out pedophile priests, expose the bishops who protected them and change the Vatican policies and culture that allowed abuse to continue.
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Benedict implied the devil was behind the timing of the scandal, saying the Year of the Priest was supposed to have been a year in celebration of the priesthood and encouragement for new vocations.
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"It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the `enemy'"; he would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven from the world," Benedict said in his homily, to applause from the gathered priests.
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"And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of little ones," he said.
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"We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again," he said.
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Victims groups who had been hoping for a papal mea culpa and clear-cut action plan to protect children weren't satisfied.
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"A promise is nominally more helpful than an apology. But promises are usually easy to make, hard to keep and broken often if there's no oversight or penalties," said Barbara Blaine, president of the U.S. victims group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
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Another group, BishopAccountability.org, said the pontiff's remarks were both a disappointment and a squandered opportunity in that he only prescribed an internal step: better screening for priests.
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It called for him to tell his bishops to do more: stop opposing legislation to extend statutes of limitations so victims can seek justice from abusers; post information about known abusers on diocesan websites and for the Vatican office that handles abuse cases to do the same.
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"Once again, the pope focused only on wayward priests, and he once again minimized the sodomizing and abuse of helpless children by calling it a 'sin,'" the group said in a statement.