Catholic church 'must excise moral cancer of sex abuse'

EMMA COWING
Scotland on Sunday
2 December 2012

THE man widely tipped to be the next Pope told an audience in Glasgow yesterday that the Catholic Church will not grow unless it deals with the sex abuse scandal that has rocked it in recent years.

Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, warned the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland that sex abuse was a “criminal moral cancer” and that the Catholic Church will not recover 
“until every cell is excised”.

He said: “Few, if any, people 50 years ago expected the dark stain of sexual abuse to have spread so widely across the church, while varying in extent even within countries. It does not need to be said that this is the most important and powerful barrier to the New Evangelisation.”

He also admitted the Catholic Church in Australia had not dealt properly with sexual abuse within the church.

“It is shameful and shocking that this abuse, with its tragic toll on those who were abused and on their families, was committed by Catholic priests and church workers,” he said during a speech at the Glasgow City Chambers.

“That church officials have sometimes failed to deal appropriately with those who have been abused, and with priests and church workers accused of abuse, is deeply disturbing.”

He continued: “Much still needs to be done in Australia and will be done, but substantial steps have been 
taken procedurally in the 
last 16 years and generally these procedures have been followed.

.......

Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow and president of the Bishops’ Conference 
in Scotland, said: “Cardinal Pell has been a hugely influential figure in Australian 
society and a powerful voice in the English-speaking Catholic world for more than a decade.”

full article at Scotland on Sunday