It was a veritable Lenten penitensiya for the Holy See which has been the target of recent attacks by various sectors in Europe about pedophilia cases of priests preying on children.

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During the Lenten season in 2002, the Church in the USA was also rocked by concerted charges of priests’ sexual abuses.

This year attacks erupted in Ireland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Australia, and other areas.

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What aggravated those accusations were the alleged cover-ups by diocesan bishops and Vatican officials. Pope Benedict XVI himself has been mired in the controversy for not taking a strong stand against abusive priests when he was a cardinal in Rome and earlier as archbishop of Munich in his native Germany.

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The Vatican has not taken all this lying down. It has defended the Pope, claiming that all these accusations are part of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign directed at the Pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

That is why some raise the question: Why is the Catholic Church singled out as a target of wrongdoings when there are many cases of pedophilia and sex scandals in other religions?

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The head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz said on Vatican Radio: “The Pope defends life and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely different agenda.”

Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, “The pope embodies moral truths that aren’t accepted and so, the shortcomings and errors of priests are used as weapons against the church.”

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This is not, of course, to cover up the sex scandals or condone the wrongdoings of certain clerics but the question is, Where can you find a PERFECT human institution?

Those attacks should be a challenge for the Catholic Church to look into itself and find out where it has committed mistakes and make the necessary reforms.

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For instance, in the screening of candidates for the priesthood, formators, and vocation recruiters should be strict in barring those who already have strong tendencies for the same sex or the opposite sex. Another area which needs strengthening is the ongoing renewal of the clergy.

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During the 2002 scandal crisis in the USA, a local newspaper editorial says, “Can the Church survive? The Catholic Church is one of the most enduring institutions.

Its 2000-year history has been marked by other major upheavals, but the Church has always survived.

“The Church has done so much good to be destroyed by blips (visible pulses as in a radar screen) of evil. Is the pedophilia scandal a mere blip?

“It can be, if the Church acts decisively instead of trying to sweep the scandal under the rug.”

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ST. JUDE NOVENA. On Thursday, join our novena to St. Jude, Saint of the Impossible, at the Divine Word Shrine, Christ the King Seminary Compound on E. Rodriguez Boulevard, Quezon City at 6:30 p.m.

A healing session will follow.