Pope Francis has strongly defended the Roman Catholic Church's record on tackling sexual abuse by priests.
In a rare interview with an Italian newspaper, the Pope said "no-one else has done more" to root out paedophilia.
He said the Church had acted with transparency and responsibility, yet it was the only institution to have been attacked. It is, after all, a church. Its priests are supposed to be holy men of God not pedophiles. Yet, when they are exposed as such, they have, in the past, been simply moved to another parish to molest new, unsuspecting children, rather than being tossed out of the church as the ungodly perverts they are. The Catholic Church is operating without fear of God or man, and that invariably leads to disaster.
Last month, the UN strongly criticised the Vatican for failing to stamp out child abuse and for allowing cover-ups.
Catholic Church abuse scandals
Germany - A priest, named only as Andreas L, admitted in 2012 to 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys over a decade
United States - Revelations about abuses in the 1990s by two Boston priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, caused public outrage
Belgium - The bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years
Italy - The Catholic Church in Italy admitted in 2010 that about 100 cases of paedophile priests had been reported over 10 years
Ireland - A report in 2009 found that sexual and psychological abuse was "endemic" in Catholic-run industrial schools and orphanages for most of the 20th century
Canada - Mt Cashel was the first case of institutional sex abuse to make global headlines with 300 boys claiming sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers of Ireland, a Catholic order. However, Canada's Residential School system was the first real exposure of the Catholic church's problem with pedophilia.
The Pope, who will celebrate his first anniversary of his election later this month, also praised his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, for changing the Church's attitude towards predatory priests, saying he had been "very courageous".
He also questioned the focus of the debate, saying: "The statistics on the phenomenon of violence against children are shocking, but they also clearly show that the great majority of abuses are carried out in family or neighbourhood environments." Yeah, so?
A UN report into the abuse scandals published last month called on the Pope to "immediately remove" all clergy who were known or suspected child abusers.
It also accused the Vatican of systematically placing the "preservation of the reputation of the Church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims" - something it has strenuously denied.
This is where the disconnect comes. Does Francis really believe that? For all accounts he is an honest, courageous and God-fearing man who, I'm certain, would not lie deliberately. So, are his staff keeping him in the dark? Does he really not know what has been going on these past couple decades since Mount Cashel?
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the Holy See should open its files on members of the clergy who had "concealed their crimes" so that they could be held accountable by the authorities.
Pope Francis has set up a commission to investigate sex crimes committed by priests and to care for victims, but so far he has made very few public comments about the scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years.
The leader of an Italian group representing victims of clerical sex abuse claimed there had been little action from the Vatican and said there had been no "big changes" under Pope Francis.
Francesco Zanardi of Rete L'Abuso, told the BBC: "The cases of child abuse by priests continue to happen, all around Italy, and of the cases that we've denounced we have seen no results."
"The Pope may make this statement, but then the Vatican doesn't reply to the UN or impose the obligation that bishops should denounce accused priests in the courts and not deal with the cases internally."
The founder of the US-based website, BishopAccountability.org, Terence McKiernan, was more direct in his criticism, complaining that the Pope had not merely failed to apologise to the children who had been abused but had not even expressed sorrow.
"It is astonishing, at this late date, that Pope Francis would recycle such tired and defensive rhetoric," he said.
Pope Francis also used the interview with Corriere della Sera to admit that he was uncomfortable with the depiction of him as a "superman" who leaves the Vatican at night to feed the homeless.
He told the newspaper: "The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly and has friends like everyone else. A normal person."
His comments came as a new weekly magazine devoted entirely to his life, called Il Mio Papa - or My Pope - hit the news-stands in Italy.
In a rare interview with an Italian newspaper, the Pope said "no-one else has done more" to root out paedophilia.
He said the Church had acted with transparency and responsibility, yet it was the only institution to have been attacked. It is, after all, a church. Its priests are supposed to be holy men of God not pedophiles. Yet, when they are exposed as such, they have, in the past, been simply moved to another parish to molest new, unsuspecting children, rather than being tossed out of the church as the ungodly perverts they are. The Catholic Church is operating without fear of God or man, and that invariably leads to disaster.
Last month, the UN strongly criticised the Vatican for failing to stamp out child abuse and for allowing cover-ups.
Catholic Church abuse scandals
Germany - A priest, named only as Andreas L, admitted in 2012 to 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys over a decade
United States - Revelations about abuses in the 1990s by two Boston priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, caused public outrage
Belgium - The bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years
Italy - The Catholic Church in Italy admitted in 2010 that about 100 cases of paedophile priests had been reported over 10 years
Ireland - A report in 2009 found that sexual and psychological abuse was "endemic" in Catholic-run industrial schools and orphanages for most of the 20th century
Canada - Mt Cashel was the first case of institutional sex abuse to make global headlines with 300 boys claiming sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers of Ireland, a Catholic order. However, Canada's Residential School system was the first real exposure of the Catholic church's problem with pedophilia.
The Pope, who will celebrate his first anniversary of his election later this month, also praised his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, for changing the Church's attitude towards predatory priests, saying he had been "very courageous".
He also questioned the focus of the debate, saying: "The statistics on the phenomenon of violence against children are shocking, but they also clearly show that the great majority of abuses are carried out in family or neighbourhood environments." Yeah, so?
A UN report into the abuse scandals published last month called on the Pope to "immediately remove" all clergy who were known or suspected child abusers.
It also accused the Vatican of systematically placing the "preservation of the reputation of the Church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims" - something it has strenuously denied.
This is where the disconnect comes. Does Francis really believe that? For all accounts he is an honest, courageous and God-fearing man who, I'm certain, would not lie deliberately. So, are his staff keeping him in the dark? Does he really not know what has been going on these past couple decades since Mount Cashel?
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the Holy See should open its files on members of the clergy who had "concealed their crimes" so that they could be held accountable by the authorities.
Pope Francis has set up a commission to investigate sex crimes committed by priests and to care for victims, but so far he has made very few public comments about the scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years.
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| A new weekly magazine devoted entirely to the life of Pope Francis launched in Italy |
The leader of an Italian group representing victims of clerical sex abuse claimed there had been little action from the Vatican and said there had been no "big changes" under Pope Francis.
Francesco Zanardi of Rete L'Abuso, told the BBC: "The cases of child abuse by priests continue to happen, all around Italy, and of the cases that we've denounced we have seen no results."
"The Pope may make this statement, but then the Vatican doesn't reply to the UN or impose the obligation that bishops should denounce accused priests in the courts and not deal with the cases internally."
The founder of the US-based website, BishopAccountability.org, Terence McKiernan, was more direct in his criticism, complaining that the Pope had not merely failed to apologise to the children who had been abused but had not even expressed sorrow.
"It is astonishing, at this late date, that Pope Francis would recycle such tired and defensive rhetoric," he said.
Pope Francis also used the interview with Corriere della Sera to admit that he was uncomfortable with the depiction of him as a "superman" who leaves the Vatican at night to feed the homeless.
He told the newspaper: "The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly and has friends like everyone else. A normal person."
His comments came as a new weekly magazine devoted entirely to his life, called Il Mio Papa - or My Pope - hit the news-stands in Italy.
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