VIA MSN.com:
Pope Benedict said on Thursday the sexual abuse scandal shaking Roman Catholicism showed the church needed to do penance for its sins, in a rare public reference by the pope to pedophilia in the priesthood.
“Now, under attack from the world which talks to us of our sins, we can see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how necessary it is to do penance and thus recognize what is wrong in our lives,” the pope said at a mass in the Vatican.
This involved “opening oneself up to forgiveness, preparing oneself for forgiveness, allowing oneself to be transformed,” said the pope, whose last public utterance on the scandal was his letter to the Irish people, made public on March 20.
