Rome, Italy (CNN) — Pope Benedict XVI said Friday the church must promise « to do everything possible » to ensure that the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests « will never occur again. »

He was addressing thousands of priests who had gathered at the Vatican for a three-day conference to mark the end of the « Year of the Priest. »

« So it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God’s concern for our good, turns into its very opposite, » the pope said.

Pope Benedict XVI said the church must « insistently beg forgiveness from God » and from victims for the sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests. He also said priests must be more thoroughly vetted before joining the ministry.

« In admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation, we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers, » the pope said in his homily.

Some victims of sexual abuse said the pope’s words weren’t enough.

« Forgiveness comes after, not during, a crisis, » said Barbara Blaine, president of the U.S.-based Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), « Right now, kids are being assaulted by priests and bishops are concealing the crimes. And the pope continues taking no action to stop this. »

She said the pope still ignores the main problem, « the ongoing recklessness, deceit, and callousness of bishops who, even now, protect predators instead of children. »

The pope’s promise to « do everything possible » is a vague pledge that won’t change the behavior of abusive priests, Blaine said.

She called for independent investigations into the extent of cover-ups wherever the abuse occurred, and criminal prosecution of abusive priests and their colleagues and supervisors.

Thousands of people have come forward in the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria and the pope’s native Germany, saying they were abused as children by Catholic clergy.

The crisis has particularly shocked deeply Catholic Ireland, where three government-backed investigations have uncovered physical and sexual abuse stretching back decades.

The pope referred to « currents which lead the flock astray » in his homily Friday.

« Today, we can see that it has nothing to do with love when conduct unworthy of the priestly life is tolerated, » he said.

Critics charge that the Vatican systematically covered up abuse around the world by shuffling abusive priests from one parish to another or quietly pushing them to retire.

The pope has met with victims in the United States and in Malta, and vowed that the church will seek justice for the victims.

But some victims say justice is not enough, and that the priesthood must be reformed.

Tuesday, activists campaigned for the Catholic Church to ordain women. They argued that women in the priesthood could have helped lessen the impact of the child abuse scandal sweeping the church.

« We believe that if women had a say in the church, if there was more accountability and more transparency, that the men would have been held more accountable, » said Erin Saiz Hanna, executive director of the U.S.-based Women’s Ordination Conference.

the CNN Wire Staff
CNN World

Un regroupement de citoyens demande au premier ministre Jean Charest d’agir d’urgence pour empêcher la perte d’une part importante du patrimoine religieux québécois.

Ce regroupement a présenté, aujourd’hui, un manifeste signé par 55 personnes, dont le ténor Marc Hervieux, l’ancien maire de Québec Jean-Paul L’Allier et, surtout, de nombreux organistes, musicologues et facteurs d’orgues.

Ils réclament notamment un moratoire sur la vente, le changement de vocation ou toute autre disposition des lieux de culte pour une période d’un an et la réalisation d’un inventaire complet du patrimoine religieux bâti et des orgues qu’il contient afin d’identifier ce qui doit être préservé.

«Ça s’impose, a indiqué l’un des signataires, l’ex-député Daniel Turp. Il ne suffit pas de déposer une loi sur le patrimoine culturel (…) nous voulons une politique parce qu’une loi sans politique qui l’accompagne ou plan d’action ou une stratégie d’action, ça ne va pas loin. Là, il y a une urgence.»

Le manifeste demande aux Églises des différentes confessions de privilégier les plus beaux monuments pour le culte, et au gouvernement du Québec de nationaliser ceux dont elles ne peuvent plus assumer l’entretien.

Les signataires font valoir que ce sont les citoyens québécois qui ont financé ce patrimoine par la dîme, par des campagnes de financement et par des avantages fiscaux consentis par les gouvernements.

Les citoyens ont leur mot à dire

L’un des initiateurs du manifeste, l’organiste et ancien secrétaire de la Fédération québécoise des amis de l’orgue, Antoine Leduc, a soutenu que l’Église ne devrait pas pouvoir vendre ce patrimoine sans que les citoyens aient leur mot à dire.

«Je ne pense pas que les autorités religieuses devraient avoir ce droit, a-t-il fait valoir. Je parle d’un détournement de patrimoine si les autorités religieuses font cela. Ce n’est pas pour isoler l’Église, mais l’Église a des comptes à rendre. Elle a des responsabilités envers la collectivité et on lui demande de les assumer aujourd’hui.»

Ils ont lancé cet appel pressant devant l’église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus, dans l’est de Montréal, fermée et laissée à l’abandon. En plus de sa valeur architecturale, cette église contient un orgue Casavant datant du début du XXe siècle qui a pu être restauré grâce notamment à une collecte de fonds de 50 000 $ amassés auprès des citoyens du quartier Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

«L’église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus et son orgue, restauré à grand frais avec des fonds publics doivent être sauvés. S’ils ne le sont pas, aucune église et aucun orgue n’échappera plus aux menaces de fermeture et au pic des démolisseurs», a lancé Gaston Arel, président et fondateur de la Fédération québécoise des amis de l’orgue et des Amis de l’orgue de Montréal.

La Presse canadienne
Le Devoir

À lire aussi sur le sujet : ‘Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus – Le symptôme d’un manque de vision‘, Le Devoir, 2 juin 2010.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican prosecutor of clerical sex abuse warned perpetrators on Saturday that they would suffer damnation in hell that would be worse than the death penalty.

The Rev. Charles Scicluna, a Maltese priest who is a top official at the Vatican’s morality office, led a special « make amends » prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Seminarians and other pontifical university students in Rome wanted to gather for prayers for the victims of clergy abuse and for the healing of the church’s wounds from the scandal over its concealment of abuse.

Quoting from a long passage from Gregory the Great, an early pope and monk who made rules for the clergy, Scicluna said in the case of a pedophile priest « it would be really better that his evil deeds cause him death in his lifetime » under secular laws than suffer « more terrible damnation » in hell.

Scicluna has been leading the Vatican’s drive to rid the church of pedophile priests. Many victims’ groups say the Vatican must admit responsibility for a decades-old culture of secrecy and systematic cover-ups.

The Vatican official likened children to a « holy icon, » and decried what the world becomes when children are « abused, destroyed. »

« Don’t make children the object of your impure covetousness, » Scicluna said to the priests.

Participants at the ceremony asked for prayers « for the victims of abuses perpetrated by men and women of the Church, so that they can heal their wounds and experience true peace, » the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Prayers were also offered for clerics and other religious who committed abuses so that « they can honestly face up to the consequences of their guilt and embrace the needs of justice, » ANSA said.

Scicluna drew on a passage in St. Mark’s Gospel saying those who harm children would be better off tying a millstone to their neck and throwing themselves into the sea.

Earlier in the week, the Catholic news agency Zenit reported that several seminary students, including ones from Britain and the United States, decided to have the prayer service in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s harsh letter to Irish bishops in March.

In that letter, Benedict chastised bishops in the predominantly Catholic nation for making grave errors of judgment about the abuse of thousands of Irish boys and girls. But he didn’t blame Vatican policies that kept the abuse secret for making the situation worse and he issued no punishment for the Irish bishops.

Any scandal in the Italian church is particularly delicate for the Vatican.

On Friday, the head of the Italian bishops conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco told his churchmen that it was « possible » that sex abuse by clergy might have also been covered up in Italy, and said bishops should follow the Vatican’s guidelines in dealing with abuse allegations.

Frances D’Emilio
The Huffington post