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1. With due respect to the Holy Father, I think his opinion might be different if he had been abused by a member of the clergy/religious.
   

   Posted By: David. Milton.

2. The Pope is absolutely spot on. Structural change of any sort will be utterly ineffective if there is no change of hearts and minds.
   Sins are not committed by structures; they are committed by persons. Persons therefore need to change. We should ignore calls for 'structural change' that emanate from the so-called 'progressive' Left who see authority solely as something to be siezed in order to attack and dismantle the sacred hierarchy instituted by Christ.

   Posted By: RMBH Bankstown

3. In response to the abuses of past, the Holy Father and St Hildegard are right. However what measures and protections will there be in place for what could happen in the future?

   Posted By: Leo Tucker, Darlinghurst

4. With all respect, this is a sad message. It is appropriate to call for transformation of hearts, but it is the system which is evil and the root of much that is wrong. 'None so blind as those who will not see.' Saddened!

   Posted By: JC, Melbourne VIC Australia

5. The crisis surrounding the Reformation resulted in the calling of a general council in which church structures and disciplines were reformed in order to deal with the challenges of the day.
   This present crisis also calls for a re-examination of current structures that have allowed such crimes to have taken place.
   Unfortunately Pope Benedict continues to see the problem in terms of personal sin. Paedophilia and sex abuse is certainly sinful.
   However, more than this it is a crime in which the institution church was complicit. Structures need to change and radically.
   That the head of the Catholic Church does not recognise the written on the wall is a major failure of leadership. Cardinals and Bishops who care for the future of the Catholic Church have an obligation to tell Benedict the truth.

   Posted By: Elias Nasser, Sylvania NSW

6. RMBH: 'We don't need the guardianship of the Holy Spirit; we have the Hierarchy!' - Card Ernesto Ruffini at Vat II.
   From a post several months ago, it is clear that you support this view of authority. You stated that the only voice that should be heard in the Church is that of the Pope and the Bishops.
   You forget a couple of things: that the Church is the baptized People of God and all of its members have a voice; that the Church is ever in need of reform (Augustine); that it is profoundly unchristian to brand anyone who sees things differently from you is conspiratorially 'left wing.'
   Furthermore, your Jesus is a disembodied Docetic figure who floated around in an ahistorical virtual neighbourhood with the Beatific Vision playing inside the divine psyche and creating a complete and eternally fixed ecclesiological and sacramental system.
   Magic stuff, but you're forgetting a tiny something: the Incarnation.

   Posted By: David Timbs ALBION. VIC.

7. David Timbs: Nothing of which you say is applicable to me. Think carefully before you write next time. It is profoundly unChristian to make rash judgements and false accusations of another.

   Posted By: RMBH Bankstown

8. The manner by which the structures of the Church operate needs to change.
   The principle item which needs a major overhaul is the beaucracy of the Church at every level.
   We will learn nothing until we do that!
   The beaucracy of the Church is like a 'weight 'on the backs of far too many of our 'good and holy' people.

   Posted By: David. Milton.

9. So much for Hildegard's ideas; they don't seem to have worked as the abuse is ongoing! Yes, we need repentance but also systems in place to prevent this happening now and in the future; the hierarchy still seems to be in denial in many cases.

   Posted By: John, Bathgate, Scotland

10. The Holy Father is right. He could as easily have quoted St Paul. The real change will be one of interior reform.
    However, I think that the Holy Father is not saying that prudent changes to processes cannot take place (and NB he has paved the way for a number of key reforms in dealing with abusers) but that a wholesale wreckovation of the fabric of the church will be of little benefit.

    Posted By: Peter Thygesen, Canberra, Australia

11. I'll have to disagree with the Holy Father. There needs to be change within the structure of Church management to take into account what is known from the studies about pedophilia.
    All the talk about being 'sorry' for the occurrence and for the consequent cover up, does not connect with any understanding of the nature of the problem. If something is to be remedied, it must first be understood.
    I'm impressed with the understanding the Church has pursued re subjects such as climate change, evolution and even economic theories. But it totally ignores the social, behavioral and bio-medical sciences and the light they throw on human behaviours. I'd be recommending that Church authorities hit the books. Go look at material like the paper prepared for medical doctors on the topic of paedophilia, which has been prepared by the Mayo Clinic.
    Of course, there is a lot more published material, too. Get the Pontifical Academy of the Arts and Sciences to hold a Symposium, inviting leaders in the field of study of paedophilia (as they quite brilliantly did for those other issues I've mentioned). Then the Church could extract useful and reliable information on just what the problem entails and how their management of personnel might become more informed and responsive in the light of modern knowledge.
    

    Posted By: Marie H Brisbane

12. The solution is for clergy not to abuse in the first place and for bishops not to cover up.
    I agree with the Pope, up to a point: the bishops need to show penitence and conversion: turning away from clericalism and power to embracing the victims; taking off their fancy robes and wrapping themselves in the towels of servanthood; eating with outcasts etc.
    Of course our RC Church needs structural change so that clericalism, authoritariansism, imperialism etc can die.
    After all, Jesus spoke of the absolute necessity for the vine to be pruned, anfd pruned heavily.

    Posted By: SCB - Brisbane

13. That's OK providing the structures are based on the servant leadership of the gospels. But will they be?

    Posted By: Bill Brady Hindmarsh SA

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