Pope Visit

I'd heard a long time ago that people were coming out against sexually abusive Catholic priests, but after the headlines faded back into the middle of the newspaper or out of sight on news websites, I sort of forgot about it. I thought that they'd done something about it and that's why I hadn't heard anything recently. Not so, apparently. After reading the NYtimes, I realized that this problem is just as bad now as it was back when it first received media attention. I learned that this visit to the U.S. by the pope is the first since the sexual abuse scandal broke out, which was why he spent much of his visit offering up his empathy and sadness toward the events. As sad as he was, it seems that upon his departure, no new ground had been made to remedy the issue with the abusive priests. Abuse victims were saddened and outraged that the pope, the highest religious authority on earth, did not offer up a plan to help them and prevent future injustices.

I'm neither Catholic, nor all that religious, so excuse me if I offend anyone. It sounds to me as if the church as a whole would rather turn a blind eye to the thousands of sexual abuse victims than take the steps to a.) acknowledge that there is, in fact, a serious problem and b.) to fix the problem and help the victims. Religion and God are supposed to be there to help people through troubling times, when there's no where else to turn to, right? So what I don't understand (as an outsider looking in) is why they're ignoring such an outcry of innocent people for help. It's ridiculous. Maybe that's just how they roll as a religion, I don't pretend to know. It just seems strange that they're ignoring their basic principles as an organized religion. Lame.

Event piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/us/04pope.html?ref=nationalspecial2
Contextual piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/nyregion/16strike.html?ref=nationalspecial2
Predictive piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/us/29beliefs.html?ref=nationalspecial2