Last week Pope Benedict XVI took a four day trip to the United Kingdom. It was the Vatican’s first ever, state visit to Britain. He went to the UK to talk about the Roman Catholic churches sex abuse scandal that has been going on. During his time in Birmingham it happened to be the weekend of the 70th anniversary of the battle of Britain. The battle of Britain was when the Nazi’s bombed England. Pope Benedict XVI said “For me, as one who has lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology,” (http://www.nytimes.com). There were tens of thousands of people gathered to see the pope and him driving around in the popemobile. Surprisingly many of them were there to protest against the pope and did not want him around because of the child sex abuse crisis. During the popes four-day stay in the UK he had brought up the child sex abuse crisis three out of the four days. The last time was on the last day with the Roman Catholic Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales where he said it “Undermines the moral credibility of church leaders”. (http://www.nytimes.com). He also talked about how he acknowledged that the church failed to act quickly enough to deal with the child rape and the molestations by priests. He than stated, "It's difficult to understand how a man who has said this could then fall into this perversion. It's a great sadness," Benedict said. (www.npr.org). In Belgium over 13 people have committed suicide because of what has happened to them with priests and hundreds have said they have either been raped or molested. All in all the pope said that it was a historical trip and was glad he made it.
No comments:
Post a Comment