Clergy Abuse/Pedophilia

For several decades, the Catholic Church has found itself rocked by scandal; hundreds of members of the clergy have sexually abused their parishioners. Though victims have reported incidents of sexual abuse around the world, most cases have occured in the United States and Europe. Critics have attacked the Church relentlessly because many members of the Church's upper echelon were aware of clergy members’ sexually abusing members of their flock. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI, while serving in the capacity of head of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising in Germany, allowed a priest who molested children to seek therapy and then be reinstated. Through the end of the 20th century, most publicized cases of sexual abuse involving clergy concerned young males. Since 2000, however, scores ...