A New Kind of Easter Message

Pope Benedict XVI addresses the faithful during the "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") message at the end of the Easter Mass in St. Peter's square.

Catholic bishops across the world took to their pulpits on Easter to offer heartfelt apologies and - some in remarkably harsh terms - slam church leaders for protecting pedophiles. Pope Benedict was one of the few leaders who did not address the revelations of abuse convulsing the billion-strong Catholic church. Instead, a surprise address by top Cardinal Angelo Sodano was the only direct mention of the controversy.
"The people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment," Sodano told the Pontiff and the thousands of pilgrims packed into a rainy St. Peter's Square. Benedict then hugged him, another unusual moment.

But at Easter Masses elsewhere, Catholics heard extraordinary mea culpas on a day that is the most joyous in the Christian calendar. Ireland's Cardinal Sean Brady said "the evil deeds" of perverted priests had grievously wounded not only the children who were abused, but also the faith of parishioners and the credibility of top Church leaders.
"Those wounds, like the wounds on the body of the risen Christ, will not go away," he said in his homily at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.
Brady pledged to protect the vulnerable in future and declared that "there is now no hiding place for abusers in the church." He admitted last month to being present in 1975 when two children abused by a notorious priest were forced to sign vows of silence. The priest, the Rev. Brendan Smyth, went on to rape and molest hundreds of kids in Ireland, Britain, Italy and the U.S.

Belgian Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard sharply criticized the church for choosing to protect "the reputation of certain men of the church over the honor of the abused children." He said the church can only regain its dignity and trust "by declaring the truth."

At Westminster Cathedral in London, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the leader of the English Catholic Church, told his flock that "talk of sin is not always popular - unless we are talking about other people's sins."
But he said Holy Week is about acknowledging guilt and seeking forgiveness.
"To appreciate the message of this great Christian feast, we have to begin with our own sin and shame," he said.

German Archbishop Robert Zollitsch wrote in his Easter message that Catholics cannot look away from the scandal.
"We must set out together and examine inconceivable events, awful crimes, the church's dark aspects," he said. "The church must not be inactive. We need a new beginning."
In Rome, meanwhile, the Pope's personal preacher apologized for comparing newspaper probes of the church's cover-ups to the persecution of Jews.
"If I inadvertently hurt the feelings of Jews and pedophilia victims, I sincerely regret it and I apologize," the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

We may be in for a minor revolution in the Catholic Church. A great many bishops and arch bishops( some of whom were involved in cover-ups) are coming forward to be counted. They do not want to go down in history as leaders of the church who enabled pedophiles and indirectly condoned the rape of children.