Pope urges faithful to do penance as calls for his removal gather force
The Pope has urged Christians to “do penance” in the face of “world attacks” on the Church over the clerical abuse scandals. At a Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican for members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission the Pope, who turns 83 tomorrow and is to make a two-day visit to Malta at the weekend, said: “I have to say that we Christians, including in recent times, have often avoided the word penance, which seemed to us too harsh.” He added: “Now, under attack from the world, which talks to us of our sins, we can see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how necessary it is to do penance and thus recognise what is wrong in our lives”. He said that “pardon and purification” were the keys to “renewal”, which was “the work of divine mercy”.
[Editor's Comment:] This man is not naïve. He knows what is required of him but he doesn't want to do it. He also knows that the countless cases of sex abuse in the Church are not primarily to be seen as sins. Granted, they are sins too but they're not just that. Neither are they to be seen as an internal matter of the Church. Again, they are that too, but not primarily so. What Mr. Ratzinger knows full well, is that sex abuse is a crime.
He also knows that this storm now is abating and that media attention will shift from the Church to other issues. Ensconced in his papal residences, he must be smiling. He has been playing for time and has "won". For now. What we know, however, is that these crimes will be sweeped under the carpet, that the criminals will go unpunished and that the sex abuse will continue as before. We now also are certain that rather than being a servant of God, Mr. Ratzinger is the knowing and willing servant of very dark forces. -Bluntly put, he's creepy.