www.timesofearth.com Addressing the victims of abuse, the Pope wrote: "You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry." Rome - Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual head of the Catholic church, has reprimanded Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgement" in their handling clerical sex abuse. In a pastoral letter to the Irish faithful on Saturday, he ordered a Vatican investigation into the church's cover-up of the abuse of thousands of children between the 1930s and the 1990s. However, there was no mention of any Vatican responsibility in the scandal and no specific punishments meted out to bishops blamed by victims and Irish government-ordered investigations for having covered up years of abuse. In the letter, Benedict said: "I am truly sorry" for the harm done to generations of Irish Catholics who suffered "sinful and criminal" abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns. "It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church," he said. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel." Benedict used his harshest words for the abusers themselves, saying they had betrayed the trust of the faithful, brought shame on the church and now must answer before God and civil authorities. "Conceal nothing," he told them. "Openly acknowlege your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy." Benedict faulted their superiors, the Irish bishops, for having failed "sometimes grievously ...
Keywords: Pope, Benedict, apologises, for, Irish, priests, sex, abuse
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