Pope John Paul II yesterday issued his strongest condemnation yet of paedophile priests.
Addressing US cardinals, gathered in the Vatican for an emergency two-day meeting to address the sexual abuse crisis, he expressed the hope that the "time of trial will bring purification to the entire Catholic community".
The Pope said: "Like you, I too have been deeply grieved by the fact that priests and religious have themselves caused such suffering and scandal to the young. Because of the great harm done by some priests and religious, the church herself is viewed with distrust, and many are offended at the way in which the church's leaders are perceived to have acted in this matter."
The Pope went on to express his "profound sense of solidarity and concern" for the victims of clerical sexual abuse, adding that "a generalised lack of knowledge of the nature of the problem led bishops to make decisions which subsequent events showed to be wrong".
The Pope suggested that the current crisis must be viewed within the context of the "immense spiritual, human and social good that the vast majority of priests and religious in the United States have done and are still doing".
He hoped the scandal that has rocked the United States would lead to "a holier priesthood".
"The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society: it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God," he said.
The Pope's powerful, clear words may determine whether the US church formulates policy to expel paedophiles from the priesthood and hand them over to civil authorities. The US Church has been shaken by revelations that bishops transferred priests known to have molested children from parish to parish instead of defrocking them.
"People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young," he told the meeting, which one of the 24 participants called "very serious, even sombre".
As was widely expected, the Pope reaffirmed traditional Catholic teaching on both sexual morality and the celibate priesthood: "People must know that bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality, a truth as essential to the renewal of the priesthood and the episcopate as it is to the renewal of marriage and family life."
Speaking at a briefing in the Vatican yesterday, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago also confirmed that the question of the celibate priesthood itself was not up for discussion, rather "we discussed ways in which celibacy might be strengthened".
Asked about the relevance of this week's meeting for the Catholic Church in countries other than the US, Cardinal George replied: "When the Pope speaks, he always speaks with the Universal Church in mind, so perhaps what we do in the US [after these meetings] can be helpful to the Universal Church."
Asked if Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, one of the senior US church figures most criticised for his handling of paedophile priests in his archdiocese, might this week be asked to resign, Cardinal George said: "Cardinal Law spoke to us last night at a preliminary meeting. He didn't speak about a possible resignation and nobody has asked him to ."
In answer to questions about the "disciplinary" treatment of paedophile and sexually abusive priests, both Cardinal George and the president of the US Bishops' Conference, Bishop Gregory Wilton, who also attended yesterday's briefing, acknowledged there was not a "total consensus" on whether or not there should be a "one strike and out" policy whereby offenders would be immediately defrocked.
Cardinal George argued that there was a huge difference between a "moral monster" like Father John Geoghan of the Boston diocese, who systematically preyed on children, and a young priest who, perhaps under the influence of alcohol, became involved with a woman.
Cardinal George also highlighted that the Pope spoke yesterday of the "power of conversion" to "work extraordinary change".
This week's meeting, according to Cardinal George, came as a result of the direct initiative of the Pope.
The meeting concludes this evening with an eagerly awaited final communiquΘ.