Tension In The Vatican As Pope Benedict Responds To Child Sex Abuse

<h4>Tension in the Vatican over child sex abuse<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Pope Benedict XVI has pushed back against accusations that he knew in 1980 that a priest under his control was an abuser&comma; while denying he had intentionally concealed his presence at a meeting about the priest that year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Pope Benedict XVI is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the church and the sovereign of the Vatican city state from 2005 until his resignation in 2013&period; Benedict&&num;8217&semi;s election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Benedict&comma; now 94&comma; became the first Pope in centuries to resign&period; His eight-year tenure was overshadowed by a global sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Most recently&comma; Benedict has been under fire over his time as Archbishop of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">Munich<&sol;a> and Freising&comma; between 1977 and 1982&comma; after a Church-commissioned report into abuse by Catholic clergy there was published last month&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The report found that he had been informed of four cases of sexual abuse involving minors &&num;8212&semi; including two during his time in Munich &&num;8212&semi; but failed to act&period; The report also revealed Benedict had attended a meeting about an abuser identified as Priest X&comma; though the retired pontiff&&num;8217&semi;s testimony to investigators denied he had been present&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Days after the report&&num;8217&semi;s publication&comma; the former pope admitted he had gone to the meeting&comma; blaming his earlier denial to investigators on &&num;8220&semi;an error in the editing of his statement&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On Tuesday&comma; four experts working for the retired pope said that although Benedict &&num;8212&semi; then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger &&num;8212&semi; was at the meeting&comma; he was not aware that the priest was an abuser&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;It was exclusively a question of the accommodation of the young Priest X in Munich because he had to undergo therapy there&period; This request was complied with&period; During the meeting the reason for the therapy was not mentioned&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the experts said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Pope Benedict XVI admits being at meeting about abuser priest when he ran Munich archdiocese<br &sol;>&NewLine;The investigators&&num;8217&semi; findings &&num;8212&semi; which have now directly implicated him in a failure to prevent and punish abuse &&num;8212&semi; are threatening to wreck the reputation of the former pontiff&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Despite this&comma; Benedict also said Tuesday he is &&num;8220&semi;of good cheer&&num;8221&semi; as he faces &&num;8220&semi;the final judge of my life&comma;&&num;8221&semi; in a personal response to the accusations leveled against him in the probe&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Quite soon&comma; I shall find myself before the final judge of my life&period; Even though&comma; as I look back on my long life&comma; I can have great reason for fear and trembling&comma; I am nonetheless of good cheer&comma; for I trust firmly that the Lord is not only the just judge&comma; but also the friend and brother who himself has already suffered for my shortcomings&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the retired pope wrote in a letter released by the Vatican&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Benedict again conceded that he had attended the 1980 meeting about an abusive priest&comma; this time calling his denial to the lawyers who compiled the report an &&num;8220&semi;oversight&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This error&comma; which regrettably was verified&comma; was not intentionally willed and I hope may be excused&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Benedict wrote&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He also issued a general apology to survivors of abuse&comma; writing&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Once again I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame&comma; my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Source&colon; CNN<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;