Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Redemption and Renewal

by Matthew Bunson, Gregory Erlandson

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured."----- Pope Benedict XVI

The True Story

Since 1985, the Catholic Church in the United States has been living in the shadow of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. In 2002, revelations in Boston ignited an institutional nightmare. More recently, the scandal erupted in Ireland and spread across Europe. There is now a rush by some, both inside and outside the Church, to place direct blame upon Pope Benedict XVI.

There is no escaping the fact that Pope Benedict, as the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now as pope, has played an historically pivotal and personal role in the Vatican's response to the crisis.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis is a groundbreaking, critically objective assessment of the criticism facing the pope as well as a review of his real response to the victims, abusers, bishops, media, and the millions of Catholics worldwide who continue to be justifiably horrified by the scandal. The first and foremost objective for this book is the truth no matter how difficult to face and letting the pope's record speak for itself.

"No one imagines that this painful situation will be resolved swiftly. Real progress has been made, yet much more remains to be done." Pope Benedict XVI

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Matthew Bunson (born 1966) is an American author of more than fifty books, a historian, professor, editor, Roman Catholic theologian, Senior Contributor for EWTN, the Catholic multimedia network, Senior Fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, and Faculty Chair at Catholic Distance University.
He is the author of the books Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, The Vampire Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of American Catholic History, and Pope Francis, the first English-language biography of Pope Francis in 2013.
Bunson has a B.A. in history, an M.A. in Theology, a Master of Divinity, a Doctorate in Ministry and a Ph.D. in Church History from the Graduate Theological Foundation. He is on the faculty of the Catholic Distance University where he teaches Church History, including Roman Catholic-Islamic relations and Medieval and American Catholic History, and Catholic Social Teaching. He is a Senior Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Reviews

[S G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthwhile reading for Catholics and non Catholics about Pope Benedict XVI's aggressive role in correcting the sexual abuse crisis in the Church. This book is full of records, data and events surrounding sexual abuse cases worldwide and how it has been handled by the Church historically and in the present time. What is remarkable is the unfortunate fact that abuse cases in the Catholic Church actually make it under-representative of sexual abuse cases nationwide, with the John Jay Report concluding 4% of American priests being accused (6% of those having been convicted). Meanwhile, the US Government estimates that 1/12 public school students will likely suffer SA before graduating high school. That is more than double what the John Jay Report found. And the pattern holds both nationwide and globally with widespread incidents of sexual abuse occurring throughout the general population. especially where the vulnerable are found. Public schools, nursing homes, scouting organizations, Protestant communities and beyond have become equally well-acquainted with this tragic phenomenon. The difference seems to be the Catholic Church's willingness to acknowledge and respond to the issue as it is found in her own flock.