Re: Pope Benedict to resign
I understand when you are blindly opposing a person, it does not matter if facts speak otherwise.
I really do not understand from where you get the number 25 years. Prior to 2001, the primary responsibility for investigating allegations of sexual abuse and disciplining perpetrators rested with the individual dioceses. Not with the cardinal. Please understand this.
The Pope as the cardinal was responsible for making fundamental changes to the cannon law to include offenses related to child abuse.There are numerous instances when the Cardinal made sure that he did the right thing..
Again from wikipedia …
“One of the cases Ratzinger pursued involved Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest and founder of the Legion of Christ, who had been accused repeatedly of sexual abuse. Biographer Andrea Tornielli suggested that Cardinal Ratzinger had wanted to take action against Marcial Maciel Degollado, but that John Paul II and other high-ranking officials, including several cardinals and notably the pope’s influential secretary Stanisław Dziwisz, prevented him from doing so.[SUP][139]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][143]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] According to Jason Berry, Angelo Sodano “pressured” Cardinal Ratzinger, who was “operating on the assumption that the charges were not justified”, to halt the proceedings against Maciel in 1999[SUP][144]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] When Maciel was honored by the Pope in 2004, new accusers came forward[SUP][144]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] and Cardinal Ratzinger “took it on himself to authorize an investigation of Maciel”[SUP][139]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] After Ratzinger became pope he began proceedings against Maciel and the Legion of Christ that forced Maciel out of active service in the Church.[SUP][138]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] On 1 May 2010 the Vatican issued a statement denouncing Maciel’s “very serious and objectively immoral acts”, which were “confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies” and represent “true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment.” Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a special commission to examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open an investigation into its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.[SUP][145]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] Cardinal Christoph Schönborn explained that Ratzinger “made entirely clear efforts not to cover things up but to tackle and investigate them. This was not always met with approval in the Vatican”.[SUP][138]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP][SUP][146]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)[/SUP] According to Schönborn, Cardinal Ratzinger had pressed John Paul II to investigate Hans Hermann Groër, an Austrian cardinal and friend of John Paul accused of sexual abuse, resulting in Groër’s resignation.[SUP][143]](Pope Benedict XVI - Wikipedia)”
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It helps to understand the big picture before making blind statements.