Once in a rare while, an MSM newspaper in the Anglophone world will publish a reader's letter that is favorable to Pope Benedict XVI. This is one of them - I particularly like the point the writer makes about chastity!
Model Pope
A letter to the editor
Friday, June 18, 2010
Regarding The Associated Press story "Clerical abuse victims skeptical of pope's promise" (June 12): Although I can't recall the source, I've never forgotten this statement: A priest will either lead many souls into hell with him or he will lead many souls into heaven with him. Pope Benedict XVI is one of the latter.
Long before pedophile priests were front-page news, then-Cardinal Ratzinger pushed for investigation of high-profile clerics, such as the then-archbishop of Vienna and the founder of the Legion of Christ, for sexual crimes.
in 2001, because of the failures of too many bishops, he was given charge of the issue and put in place policies that have improved the process of removing sexual predators from ministry.
Benedict has been falsely accused of being derelict in cleansing this "filth" from the priesthood. Exemplifying the inaccuracy of such accusations was the claim that, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he stopped the Church trial of a priest who abused deaf boys. The trial was not stopped by anyone in the Vatican; rather, the priest died while it was ongoing.
But like other prophets, Benedict has not allowed his opponents to deter him from acting upon, and speaking, the truth.
Just last year, on a trip to Africa, he reaffirmed Church teachings that, unlike dogs in heat, humans are capable of sexual self-control because we are persons, made in the image of God, who can freely choose to live a chaste lifestyle. Clearly, Benedict XVI is a model for all priests to emulate.
Kris Sanders
Squirrel Hill
Pennsylvania