(Boston Cardinal) O’Malley says pontiff sought to end abuses

[unhappycamper]

O’Malley says pontiff sought to end abuses
By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / April 3, 2010

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, joining a growing chorus of Catholic Church officials seeking to answer criticism of Pope Benedict XVI, yesterday offered a staunch defense of how Benedict handled sexual abuse cases in the years leading up to his papacy.

O’Malley, posting an entry in his blog just hours before leading a Good Friday liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End, wrote that “confusion and misinformation’’ in the news media have obscured the pope’s effectiveness in dealing with sexual abuse of children by clergy.

O’Malley praised Benedict’s actions, both during his tenure as pope and during his previous job as a ranking Vatican official, when he was known by his birth name, Joseph Ratzinger.

“What is very clear to me and I think to all who are fair-minded is that Cardinal Ratzinger and later Pope Benedict has been dedicated to eradicating sexual abuse in the church and trying to rectify the mistakes of the past,’’ wrote O’Malley, who was named a cardinal by Benedict in 2006.

“Until the sexual abuse crisis really became part of the consciousness of the church in Europe, there were many who were unsympathetic to our efforts in the US to deal with the problem in a transparent way and assure that our Catholic schools, parishes, and agencies would be safe for children,’’ O’Malley wrote. “During this period of at least a decade, the strongest ally we had in this effort was Cardinal Ratzinger.’’


Rest of article at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/03/omalley_says_pontiff_sought_to_end_abuses/

[salin]

1. Seems that says more about how huge the resistance if he was 'the biggest ally'

Have been following the stories through the dailydish.com and just read about how prolonged the efforts to deal with a clear case in Houston (I believe). Read as though Ratzinger's office was a big part of the problem/prolonging of taking action.