Pope: woe to clergy abusers

by our Rome correspondent Priests who sexually abuse children face damnation, Pope John Paul II said this week.
In a letter to US Catholic bishops, meeting for their annual National Conference amidst revelations of child sexual abuse by clergy, the Pope said that he was "deeply pained" by priests guilty of abusing children.
The Pope recalled Jesus's words about those who lead children to sin: "For him who gives scandal it would be better to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
The Pope's condemnation of paedophile priests struck a chord on either side of the Atlantic, as a series of scandals involving child-abusing priests has rocked the Church in England and Wales over the past few months. Some dioceses are considering taking out insurance against damages awarded to victims.
Bishops in both this country and the US have decided to set up commissions to study clerical child abuse.
The pontiff also took US media to task, saying they compounded the scandal by their sensationalist reporting. Such sensationalism, he wrote, was dangerous for morality.
See US Bishops' National Conference, page 2