Thread: POPE Benedict XVI : I lead 'wounded' church

I lead 'wounded' church
Apr 20, 2010

Pope Benedict's first 5 years

VATICAN CITY - POPE Benedict XVI on Monday completed five tumultuous years since his election on April 19, 2005.

Here are some key dates of a pontificate marked by strained inter-faith relations and a series of paedophile priest scandals:

- Sep 12, 2006: Pope Benedict angers Muslims worldwide by implicitly linking Islam and violence in a lecture at the University of Regensburg, Germany, where he previously taught theology. The lecture sparked days of sometimes violent protests in Muslim countries, prompting the pontiff to say that he was 'deeply sorry' for any offence and attributing the outrage to an 'unfortunate misunderstanding'.

- Nov 30, 2006: The pope reaches out to Muslims during a visit to Turkey, assuming an attitude of Muslim prayer while facing Mecca in Istanbul's Blue Mosque.

- July 19, 2008: Benedict issues a historic full apology to victims of child sex abuse by clergy during a visit to Australia, meeting with four victims two days later.

In April 2008, the pope had already met with abuse victims during his trip to the United States.

- Jan 24, 2009: Pope Benedict lifts the excommunication of breakaway traditionalist bishops including Richard Williamson, who claimed there were never Nazi gas chambers and that the Nazis killed up to 300,000 Jews - not six million.

Criticism from Jewish groups, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and from within the Catholic Church forces the Vatican to demand that Bishop Williamson 'unequivocally and publicly' change his views before he can be fully readmitted into the Catholic fold.

- March 17, 2009: The pontiff says distributing condoms in the fight against AIDS 'can aggravate the problem' while aboard his plane en route to Africa, the continent worst hit by the disease.

- March 20, 2010: Pope Benedict issues a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics expressing 'shame' and 'remorse' over paedophile priests and rebukes the Irish Church after explosive government reports reveal systematic cover-ups by the hierarchy.

- April 18, 2010: During a visit to Malta, the pope holds a tearful meeting with eight victims of paedophile priests, expressing 'shame and sorrow.'

AFP





Pope Benedict XVI admitted to world cardinals that he led a 'wounded and sinner' Church, as he marked five tumultuous years in charge, most recently mired in paedophile priest scandals.
PHOTO: AP

VATICAN CITY - POPE Benedict XVI admitted to world cardinals that he led a 'wounded and sinner' Church, as he marked five tumultuous years in charge, most recently mired in paedophile priest scandals.

The pontiff 'evoked the sins of the Church,' describing it as 'wounded and sinner' to some 50 cardinals gathered for his anniversary, the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano said on Monday.

He 'feels very strongly that he is not alone,' the paper reported the pontiff as saying, he 'has at his sides the whole college of cardinals who are sharing with him vicissitudes and reassurance.' Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi defended the embattled pope, telling Radio Vatican the priorities Pope Benedict had defined after his election were being 'pursued with coherence and courage' despite 'tensions' and 'obstacles'.

Waves of allegations sweeping the Church in Europe and the Americas had also been the backdrop to a tearful meeting between the pope and abuse victims on Sunday in Malta, one of the latest countries to be hit by sex abuse scandals.

In his third meeting with victims of child-molesting priests - the other two were during trips to Australia and the United States in 2008 - Pope Benedict expressed his 'shame and sorrow' over the scourge.

At a gathering of religious officials in Jerusalem, the head of the Pontifical Institute of Notre-Dame, Juan Solana, said 'this year the Holy Father is attacked and his Church too.' But while the Vatican and senior bishops have rallied around the pope, he has come under increasing pressure over allegations that the Vatican hierarchy, himself included, helped protect predator priests.

straitstimes.com

Originally Posted by Mid

Waves of allegations sweeping the Church in Europe and the Americas had also been the backdrop to a tearful meeting between the pope and abuse victims on Sunday in Malta, one of the latest countries to be hit by sex abuse scandals.

this problem is endemic within the RC Church