CNN aired a documentary, “What The Pope Knew,” about the Catholic Church’s international pedophile priests problem. The issues is out of control, and the Vatican’s response to it has been unacceptable. This report discusses some of the Church’s motives, and problems.Investigative documentary exploring pope’s role in managing the child sexual abuse crisis.
During his first papal visit to the U.S., Pope Benedict XVI reached out to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, unprecedented for the Vatican. He became the first pope to directly and personally apologize to victims for their trauma. He was the first to acknowledge publicly that the Church had systemically erred in the way that it had transferred offending priests to new parishes, putting more children at risk, instead of reporting offenders to law enforcement. A new era of accountability seemed to have dawned.
But Benedict’s role in managing the child sex abuse scandal while he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and as a powerful cardinal at the Vatican, has now come under scrutiny.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman reports for What the Pope Knew, investigating some of the most notorious pedophile priest cases in the United States and finds that the pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, had direct responsibility for how they were handled. CNN’s investigation reveals that Ratzinger opposed or slowed down the defrocking of some priests, including convicted child molesters.
CNN: "What the Pope Knew" Reported by Gary Tuchman from 666ExposesTheVatican on Vimeo.