They don't get it and they won't. When stories from around the world of raping children and hiding the accused keep emerging, it's serious. When the Pope himself is linked time after time, it's well beyond another simple problem for the church. The longer they punt on this issue and blame everyone else instead of accepting responsibility and showing serious actions, the faster they will drive people away. The Vatican has yet to realize the victims here are not inside the Vatican walls, but around the world. They raped children and then focused on protecting their own interests instead of the kids. Absolutely clueless.
A leading cardinal, making an unusual address in defense of Pope Benedict at the start of Easter Sunday Mass, said the Church would not be intimidated by "petty gossip" about sexual abuse of children by priests.
The surprise speech by Cardinal Angelo Sodano was believed to be the first time in recent memory that the ritual of a papal Easter Sunday Mass was changed to allow someone to address the pope at the start.
The change of protocol indicated just how much the Vatican is feeling the pressure from a growing scandal concerning sexual abuse of children by priests and reports of a possible cover-up that have inched ever closer to the pope himself.
"Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers," Sodano said.
