London, UK - With the Catholic Church facing a sexual abuse scandal that has spread across Europe, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday issued a rare apology to victims and their family members in Ireland but outlined no disciplinary action or changes in Vatican policies to prevent future incidents.
The apology, in the form of a pastoral letter, came as the church is embroiled in potentially its biggest crisis since Benedict became pope in 2005. Hundreds of abuse cases involving Catholic clergy have emerged in recent weeks in the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Benedict's native Germany.
The pope's letter was aimed at the church in Ireland, where a government report last year detailed thousands of instances of physical and sexual abuse from 1930 to 1990. But it amounted to the highest-level Vatican response yet to the mounting allegations of abuses in Europe, which have raised questions about Benedict's role in the handling of at least one case when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.
Some Vatican watchers and victims' groups said the apology fell short and would not curb the crisis. In his letter, the pope said that he would dispatch a special delegation to Irish dioceses to more fully review their handling of cases and that "no effort should be spared in improving and updating existing procedures." But he did not address the role that the Vatican and its policies may have played in failing to prevent or manage sexual abuse cases. He also did not lay out new prescriptions, suggest punishment or touch on the wider scandal that has led European government officials to denounce church secrecy surrounding abuse cases.
But scholars said the letter also underscored Benedict's willingness, compared with his predecessor, to address sexual abuse inside the church more forcefully. Although Pope John Paul II offered apologies for historical missteps such as the condemnation of Galileo in 1633, he was seen as reluctant to unequivocally condemn the allegations of abuse that rocked the church in the United States a decade ago.
In contrast, Benedict has apologized to U.S. abuse victims, and his letter Saturday amounted to a personal response to Irish victims, many of whom were deeply involved in church life.
"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," Benedict wrote in the 4,000-plus-word letter read aloud in Irish churches this weekend. "I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen."
The pope did recognize failings on the church's part, but he placed them at the national level of the church in Ireland. In the letter, he noted "inadequate procedures for determining the suitability of candidates for the priesthood and the religious life," "insufficient human, moral, intellectual and spiritual formation in seminaries and novitiates" and "a tendency in society to favour the clergy and other authority figures." He also condemned "a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church."
But critics in Ireland who had called for bishops to be punished were disappointed. "What the Irish people are saying is, these were crimes, and they need to be reported before the courts," said James Kelly, lecturer in theology at Trinity College in Dublin.
Last year, two government-backed reports offered accounts of abuse scandals in Ireland. In May, a report catalogued abuses by priests and nuns of thousands of orphans and foster children, and in November, a second scathing report looked at how bishops in Dublin and the Irish police colluded in covering up abuses by Dublin priests.
It remained unclear Saturday how and whether the Vatican would hold church officials accountable. Benedict called for abusers to answer for their crimes "before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals" but did not say whether the church would discipline high-level authorities for mishandling cases, including those in which pedophilic clergy were permitted to go back to ministering.
"We're very disappointed the pope missed a historic opportunity in not acknowledging the cover-up that goes right back to the Vatican, and instead focused only on the Irish failings," said Maeve Lewis, head of the Irish victims' group One in Four. "The pope's solution lies in spiritual renewal, and he doesn't propose any practical framework for the way forward."
Although Benedict apologized when he met with several victims while visiting the United States early in his papacy, the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer from Virginia who advises abuse victims, described it as a "token" effort that had little impact because the church hierarchy was not held responsible. He noted, however, that Pope John Paul II did even less -- making statements that focused blame only on individual abusers and on American culture.
"At no time did John Paul ever acknowledge that the institutional church had any role in this problem," Doyle said.
That distinction was lost on Mark Serrano, a victim of clerical abuse who lives in Leesburg.
"We're merely in some new shades of gray -- John Paul was 10 miles from the water's edge, and Ratzinger is eight miles," he said, referring to Benedict, the former Joseph Ratzinger. "Isn't it interesting to see what a low standard people apply to this church leadership? What other institution on the face of the Earth has been proven to hide criminal sex offenders for years?"
Yet while Benedict on Saturday used far sharper language, he, like John Paul, avoided criticism of Vatican policies and also failed to address the widening scandal.
Nowhere is the crisis more acute than in the pope's home country of Germany, where more than 300 victims have come forward in recent weeks. Chancellor Angela Merkel last week described the scandal as "a major challenge" to German society, and Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has denounced the church's "wall of silence" in the face of government investigations, which have been launched in 18 of Germany's 27 Catholic dioceses.
The cases include that of a German priest and accused sex offender sent to therapy in 1980 on orders approved by Ratzinger, then archbishop of Munich. Despite promises to his victim's family that he would not work with children again, the priest was allowed to return to ministering and molested more children.
The Vatican has said that Ratzinger was not aware the priest was returned to pastoral duties, a move approved by his then-deputy, Vicar General Gerhard Gruber, who has since acknowledged full responsibility.