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FormerPope Benedicthas denied that he tried to cover up sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests, in his first direct published comments since he stepped down.
His reply came in an 11-page letter to Italian author and mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who had written a book about the problems facing the Roman Catholic Church before the pope resigned in February.
"As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these things," Benedict, who now has the title Emeritus Pope, said.
Excerpts of Benedict's pope's letter were published in the Rome newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday with the former pope's permission.
Victims groups have accused Benedict of not doing enough to stop the abuse of children by priests while he was pope and before when he was head of the Vatican's doctrinal office.
According to Reuters, the Catholic Church's crisis came to light in Boston in 2002 when media began reporting how cases of abuse were systematically covered up and abusive priests were shuttled from parish to parish instead of being defrocked and handed over to civil authorities.
Since then, the Catholic Church in many countries has set up new guidelines to deal with cases of past abuse, prevent new cases, report abuse to police, and stop potential abusers from entering the priesthood in the first place.
There is still much to be revealed about how the Church behaved in the past, Victims groups said, adding that more Bishops who were aware of the abuses should be held responsible.
