A Step Forward

Pope Benedict XVI's emotional meeting with sexual abuse victims in Malta on Sunday was hardly the beginning of the end of the Catholic Church's crisis, which has exploded across Europe in the past several months. But it was a significant step forward and an indication that Benedict does indeed feel the pain of victims.

The Associated Press reported that Benedict met for more than 30 minutes with eight Maltese men who say they were abused by four priests when they were boys living at a Catholic orphanage. During the meeting in the chapel at the Vatican's embassy in Malta, Benedict expressed his "shame and sorrow" at the pain the men and their families suffered, the Vatican said.

"Everybody was crying," one of the men, Joseph Magro, 38, told Associated Press Television News after the meeting. "I told him my name was Joseph, and he had tears in his eyes."

Benedict reportedly told the victims the church will "implement effective measures" to protect children and will do all it can to bring abusive priests to justice.

Those are fine words and should bring new hope to victims of past abuse and to Catholics in general. But the words, as fine as they are, will need to be followed up with action and with those effective measures of which the pope spoke.

Among other things Pope Benedict could do is offer a fuller explanation of his role, if any, in the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, who abused about 200 deaf boys during his tenure at St. John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, and his role as an archbishop in Germany.

With the meeting in Malta and earlier meetings and steps he has taken, Benedict has shown himself willing to confront the sexual abuse scandal in the church. Now he needs to follow up those steps with more real and effective measures.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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