Pope Benedict has said the crisis of sexual abuse of children by priests should make the church acknowledge the "terrifying" truth that its greatest threat comes from "sin within the church".
The pontiff today began a four-day pastoral visit to Portugal during which he will visit the famous shrine to the Virgin Mary at Fatima as well as the cities of Lisbon and Porto.
In some of the most comprehensive public comments since the scandal broke two months ago, Pope Benedict told reporters the church has "a very deep need" to acknowledge that it must do penitence for its sins and "accept purification".
"Today we see in a truly terrifying way that the greatest persecution of the church does not come from outside enemies but is born of sin within the Church," he told reporters on the plane taking him to Portugal, in response to a question about the sexual abuse scandal.
In recent weeks, a number of Vatican officials have accused the media of waging a smear campaign against the church, with one top Vatican official going as far as dismissing reports of a cover up of sexual abuse as "petty gossip".
Last week, the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn accused the former Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, of having blocked Vatican investigations into high-profile sex abuse cases.
Given that 84.5 per cent Catholic Portugal has not so far been touched by the tsunami of sex abuse revelations, it may well be that over the next few days the pope will concentrate his thoughts on the growing secularisation of European society.
Last February, the Portuguese parliament voted to give same-sex couples all the rights of marriage, except the right to adopt children. With President Anibal Cavaco Silva yet to sign the Bill into law, Pope Benedict can be expected to underline traditional Catholic teaching, reinforcing the importance of marriage between a man and a woman.
Highlight of the visit will clearly be the pope’s visit to Fatima tomorrow and Thursday where he will preside over ceremonies to mark the 93rd anniversary of the first of six reported apparitions witnessed in the summer of 1917 by three shepherd children who reportedly saw and heard prophecies from the Virgin Mary. One of Catholicism’s most visited shrines, Fatima attracts an annual five million pilgrims.
Pope John Paul II credited the Madonna of Fatima with having saved his life when the Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca attempted to assassinate him in St Peter’s Square on May 13th, 1981. In the so-called Third Secret of Fatima, revealed in 2000, the Virgin reportedly prophesied about a bishop “clothed in white” who “falls to the ground apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire”. One of the bullets that failed to kill John Paul is now at the shrine, inside a crown atop a statue of the Virgin.
In 2000, John Paul beatified two of the visionaries, the sister and brother Jacinta and Francisco Marto, placing them one step from sainthood.
Their cousin, Sr Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, who died in 2005 aged 97, is being considered for the same distinction.
Despite the fact that some European air space was closed yesterday due to the return of the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, the Vatican yesterday confirmed that the trip would go ahead.
More than 200 flights were grounded in Portugal yesterday, with 71 of those being grounded at Lisbon airport, where the pope is due to arrive this morning.