Pope asks forgiveness for abuse

The “Year of the Priest” has come to an end, and in his homily in St. Peter’s to mark the occassion, Pope Benedict had some strong and clear comments about the sex abuse scandal, reported by Reuters:

Wearing white and gold vestments as he spoke to some 15,000 priests, Benedict said the year that was to have celebrated the priesthood had been marred because “the sins of priests came to light, particularly the abuse of the little ones.”

“We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” he said.

The pope went on to decry “sin within the Church” and promised the Church would do everything to properly evaluate priestly candidates.

However, some people were unhappy about what was not said. For example, victim groups say they want to hear him to talk about bishops and their responsibilities related to preventing abuse.