The words of the Pope - in the first ever papal letter to all Catholics.

Precipitated by a 900 page US Grand Jury report recently - on systematic abuse, by priests, in Philadelphia.

Significantly, this report has been accepted by the Vatican - without the usual caveats and denials.


Even the graphic wording in the letter (about masturbation etc/written by the Pope) - is surprising and unprecedented.

Perhaps, the precursor of long overdue change....

The letter is welcomed worldwide, for its apologies and honest statements from the Pope about decades of child abuse by catholic clergy on every continent.

However, it took a US Grand Jury report to instigate the letter - which fails entirely to meet the problems head on.


a) there is no confirmation that church records on the abuse, the individuals concerned, and the subsequent cover-ups - will be released.

b) prosecutions against the abusers are not even countenanced, or referred to.

c) no new processes/procedures are mentioned or considered - to hold the bishops and cardinals personally accountable for protecting the abusers, and to hand them over to the police.


Maybe more will come from Dublin at the weekend - but, as yet, nothing has been done to publically monitor what senior clergy do about abuse.

All eyes are now on Chile - where abuse was rife, and Francis initially defended everything and everybody.

Only to find - that like Pennsylvania - the judicial system had outflanked the church, with its own independent investigation.


Soon, the results of the clandestine trials of Cardinal Pell (as yet, totally innocent) will he known from Australia.