Pope Benedict Marks Fifth Anniversary

The fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict has been clouded by a worldwide sex abuse scandal that’s engulfed the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2005 the world watched as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 265th pope, taking the name Benedict XVI and becoming the first German cardinal to be elected pontiff.

But the 83-year-old’s personal reputation has been tarnished by the current scandal.

Benedict is accused of turning a blind eye as archbishop in 1980 to a priest who was sent to Munich for therapy after sexually abusing children, and then transferred to do parish work.

The Vatican says a subordinate took that decision.

One Vatican tourist said despite these trying times he trusts the Pope to pull the church out of its present difficulties.

[Marco Bosco, Spanish Tourist]:             
„The Church has always been subjected to a lot of criticism and therefore to be the head of the church is a complicated task. It is true that recent years have not been the easiest but above all the challenge is to see that everything that has happened this year would be clarified. We trust Pope Benedict to do that.“

The pontiff has recently returned from a two day visit to Malta where he met privately with eight victims of sexual abuse, in the first gesture of its kind since the scandal broke earlier in this year.

Reuters religion correspondent Tom Heneghan says it was an important move, but further efforts are required to resolve the crisis.

[Tom Heneghan, Reuters Religion Correspondent]:             
„He made a positive step by meeting the victims there which is not a only a good thing to do for them, for those eight men involved, but also it is a sign to bishops all around the world that they should speak to these people and not keep them at arms length as many of them have done.“

Some experts say though that despite his latest efforts, the scandal threatens to taint Benedict’s papacy forever.

Foto: NTDTV