Madrid, Spain, Apr 20, 2010 / 16:02 pm
In his inaugural address for the 95th plenary assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, reiterated the Spanish bishops’ support for Pope Benedict XVI as the media continues their campaign against him.
During his remarks on the fifth anniversary of the Holy Father’s pontificate, Cardinal Rouco Varela said, “We give thanks to God who has called to the Chair of Peter a man committed to serving the Church in such a clairvoyant and generous way.”
He went on to express the sorrow of the Spanish bishops for “the grave sins and crimes committed by some brothers in the priesthood and by some religious who have abused minors, betraying the trust given to them by the Church and society.” He added that some of the laity have also committed these crimes and they, like the priests and religious will “certainly give an account for their acts before God and before human justice.”
The bishops of Spain, he continued, “will carefully employ more appropriate means for preventing and correcting cases of this kind, such that nobody may ever think that priestly service or consecrated life is compatible with the commission of such crimes.”