Religion & Law

The New York Times reports on new documents showing that Cardinal Ratziner failed to respond to an American bishop's requests that a priest who admitted molesting 200 deaf boys be defrocked.  (The requests apparently were made years after the abuse occurred.)  Even apart from the incalculable human costs inflicted by these priests -- and by the Church leaders who failed to take action to stop them -- this scandal is wreaking havoc with the Church's moral witness, and it appears that it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  I fear that the 2010 edition of these scandals is just ramping up.  Two sets of questions come to mind: First, is a pastoral response -- focusing on the spiritual dimension of this crisis and the need to put our trust in Christ -- sufficient, or does there need to be more candid discussion of the extent to which certain of the Church's institutional tendencies and power dynamics contributed to the crisis?  Second, if a pastoral response is most appropriate here, should that response include repentance by the Church leadership as a whole, perhaps even including Pope Benedict?  I've read commentary suggesting that Pope Benedict cannot admit mistakes given the doctrine of papal infallibility.  That's wrong, of course, but it's still a matter not to be taken lightly.  Even if the failing is paying insufficient attention to these matters in Munich and during his time heading the CDF, wouldn't that go at least part of the way to defusing the accusation that the Church is primarily concerned with maintaining the perception that its leaders can do no wrong?