In letter on clerical sex abuse, Pope Benedict XVI decries ’60s sexual revolution, describes seminaries filled with 'homosexual cliques'
By Chico Harlan and Chico Harlan Rome bureau chief covering southern Europe and sometimes parts beyond Email Bio Follow Stefano Pitrelli Stefano Pitrelli Email Bio Follow April 11 at 9:29 AM ROME — Breaking years of silence on major church affairs, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has written a lengthy letter devoted to clerical sex abuse in which he attributes the crisis to a breakdown of church and societal moral teaching and says he felt compelled to assist “in this difficult hour.
Since abdicating the papacy six years ago, Benedict — living in a monastery inside the Vatican City walls — had remained nearly silent on issues facing the church, in part to yield full authority to his successor, Pope Francis. But Benedict’s decision to speak out shows the unprecedented and awkward position facing the ideologically divided Roman Catholic Church, which has — for the first time in six centuries — two potential authority figures who hold sometimes-differing views.
“Since I myself had served in a position of responsibility as shepherd of the Church at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, and during the run-up to it, I had to ask myself — even though, as emeritus, I am no longer directly responsible — what I could contribute to a new beginning,” Benedict said.
On Twitter, David Gibson, the director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, said it was a “major problem” that Benedict was “blaming the abuse crisis on liberal mores and gays and secularization.”“As a friend notes,” Gibson said, “[Benedict’s] narrative runs against everything said and done at the February summit. So it is deeply problematic and damaging at a crucial time.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Sexual revolution of 1960s led to Church abuse crisis, ex-pope saysFormer Pope Benedict has blamed the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal ...
Read more »
Sexual revolution of 1960s led to Church abuse crisis: ex popeFormer Pope Benedict has blamed the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal ...
Read more »
Speaking out at ‘this difficult hour,’ a once-quiet ex-pope pens a lengthy letter on sexual abuseIn letter on clerical sex abuse, ex-pope Benedict decries ’60s sexual revolution, says seminaries filled with 'homosexual cliques'
Read more »
Pope names first African-American to highest U.S. postPope Francis named the first African-American to the Catholic Church's most...
Read more »
Ex-Pope Benedict XVI breaks silence on church's sex abuse crisis and blames the sexual revolution and liberalsPope Benedict XVI has broken his silence in a rare essay on the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, claiming that it was caused in part by the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the liberalization of the church's moral teaching.
Read more »
Retired Pope Breaks Silence to Weigh In on Sex AbuseRetired Pope Benedict XVI made a rare public statement Thursday with an essay on the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse crisis, linking it to a breakdown in sexual morality in the 1960s and warning against an excessive focus on the rights of accused abusers.
Read more »
At high-level Vatican meeting, rights groups ask for Pope's help decriminalizing homosexualityA group representing LGBT rights met in a high-level meeting Friday at the Vatican to ask for Pope Francis' support for the decriminalization of homosexuality.
Read more »
Pope blames Europe, US weapons for children killed in warsPope Francis has blamed Europe and the United States for selling weapons in war zones, fueling conflicts and causing victims in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.
Read more »
India Police Seek Charges Against Bishop for Alleged RapeIndian police said on Monday they will ask a court to charge a Catholic bishop with raping a nun in the southern state of Kerala, two months after Pope Francis acknowledged wider sexual exploitation of nuns within the Catholic Church.
Read more »