Accountability

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said priestly sexual abuse was a "heinous crime" and a grave sin, and he urged Irish bishops to act courageously to repair their failures to deal properly with such cases.

At the end of a two-day Vatican summit on the sex abuse scandal in Ireland, the Vatican said in a statement Feb. 16 that "errors of judgment and omissions" were at the heart of the crisis. It said church leaders recognized the sense of "pain and anger, betrayal, scandal and shame" that those errors have provoked among many Irish Catholics.

"All those present recognized that this grave crisis has led to a breakdown in trust in the church's leadership and has damaged her witness to the Gospel and its moral teaching," the statement said.

The full text of the final statement is here: Final statement of pope-Irish bishops meeting

"For his part, the Holy Father observed that the sexual abuse of children and young people is not only a heinous crime, but also a grave sin which offends God and wounds the dignity of the human person created in his image," it said.

Below is the final statement of the meeting between Pope Benedict XVI, Curia Prefects and Irish Bishops at the Vatican. The text is from Vatican Radio.

The news story about the summit is here: Pope calls priestly sex abuse 'heinous crime'

A related story: Irish sex abuse victims said to be close to despair

Statement on Meeting with Irish Bishops

On 15 and 16 February 2010, the Holy Father met the Irish Bishops and senior members of the Roman Curia to discuss the serious situation which has emerged in the Church in Ireland. Together they examined the failure of Irish Church authorities for many years to act effectively in dealing with cases involving the sexual abuse of young people by some Irish clergy and religious. All those present recognized that this grave crisis has led to a breakdown in trust in the Church’s leadership and has damaged her witness to the Gospel and its moral teaching.

VATICAN CITY -- Irish victims of clerical sex abuse have asked Pope Benedict XVI for over $1.37 billion in compensation, in a letter that the head of Ireland's Catholic Church will hand-deliver to the pope next week.

The letter also requests a meeting with Benedict during his forthcoming visit to Britain, expected to take place in September.

Douglas Perlitz, a 1992 graduate of Jesuit-run Fairfield University in Connecticut, appeared in U.S. District in New Haven, Conn., Feb. 2, to answer charges of sexual abuse of minors.

He pleaded not guilty to nine charges of traveling from the U.S. to Haiti to engage in sexual activity with nine different boys between 1998 and 2004 and 10 charges of engaging in sexual activity with minors in a foreign land between 2003 and 2008 with 10 different boys. Each of the charges carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence.

DUBLIN (RNS/ENI) -- A fifth Irish bishop is resisting calls to resign following the release of a government-commissioned report into how the Roman Catholic Church dealt with allegations against priests of sexual abuse.

Since the publication of the Nov. 26 report led by Judge Yvonne Murphy, four bishops in Ireland have offered their resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.