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Summary Pope Benedict XVI has told Irish Catholics it's a mystery why clergy abused children.
Via a pre-recorded video message, Benedict addressed the closing session Sunday of a week-long gathering in Dublin aimed at celebrating Roman Catholicism.The Eucharistic Congress, held by the Vatican every four years in a different part of the world, came against a backdrop of deep anger over child abuse cover-ups and surveys showing declining weekly Mass attendance in predominantly Catholic Ireland.Benedict said Irish joy over their long history of faith was shaken in an appalling way by revelations of clergy abuse. He said the abuse damaged the credibility of the churchs message. He added it remains a mystery why priests abused this trust.Pope Benedict XVI admitted Sunday that cases of child abuse by paedophile priests had undermined the Roman Catholic Churchs credibility in Ireland.They abused people and undermined the credibility of the Churchs message, he said in a message on the final day of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin.Thankfulness and joy at such a great history of faith and love have recently been shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care, the pope added.How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lords body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of penance have offended in this way?The popes envoy to the Catholic festival earlier this week apologised to victims of child sex abuse by priests after meeting with a group of them for two hours to hear about the abuse they suffered and the impact it had on them.Ireland, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, has been rocked in recent years by the findings of a series of unprecedented state inquiries into child abuse by paedophile priests and attempts by Church leaders to cover them up.
