Rome, Italy, Apr 23, 2010 / 14:32 pm
Pope Benedict and the Church are not being treated fairly in the media coverage of the sexual abuse scandal because his teachings disagree with the relativistic and individualistic culture of today, said Cardinal Ennio Antonelli this week.
"It's evident that it is an attack not only against the Pope, but also and especially against the Catholic Church as authoritative moral reference of our world today," said Cardinal Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Wednesday.
There are various elements that show "clearly a militant 'information' against the Church," the cardinal asserted. Citing examples of this pattern, he specifically alluded to the "tone" and "tenacity" of the accusations, the re-use of past cases that were already public as current news, the lack of statistics in reports and the promotion of the idea that pedophilia only exists within the clergy and not as "an enormously widespread vice in society."
In order "to darken the image of the Church and compromise its credibility," he explained, "it's logical that they seek to strike the Pope in person, even if the firmness and coherence of his commitment against certain criminal behaviors has always been known."
Cardinal Antonelli told Il Foglio that while he recognizes the "profound suffering" of the victims, the scandal of offending priests' "lack of loyalty to the Lord" and the negative effects of abuses on the image of the Church, he also regrest the way that the scandal is "conditioned by the media."