Your gift counts double until 5/31: $21,473 to go in our Easter Campaign. Please help now!

Italian PM lauds Pope’s response to abuse crisis

CWN - March 23, 2010

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has issued a statement praising Pope Benedict’s pastoral letter on the Irish abuse crisis.

“Benedict XVI, like many of his predecessors, is often called on to confront very difficult situations,” said Berlusconi. “The way in which he responds is remarkably efficient, at least for all those who are not guided by totally hostile sentiments, and it is efficient both for its humility and sincerity and for the sound reasoning of the Pope.”

“The pastoral letter to the Irish is only the most recent example of his great charisma,” Berlusconi continued. “In the name of the government, I wish to express to Benedict XVI all the affection and solidarity of the Italian people. Our people know how to differentiate between human error, and history is full of this, and the huge fruits of goodness which have come and continue to come from our Christian roots.”

Relations between the prime minister and the Church in Italy have been tempestuous. Last year, after the daily newspaper owned by the Italian bishops' conference published a series of columns criticizing the prime minister for his pursuit of young women, a rival newspaper owned by Berlusconi's media empire retaliated with a report that the editor of the Church newspaper was an active homosexual.

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Easter Campaign:
Progress toward our Spring 2013 goal ($21,473 to go):
$80,000.00 $58,527.50
27% 73%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Catholic World News Email Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

Revealing News, and Revealing Christ 4 hours ago
The Russell Ford problem 4 hours ago
Fr. Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly: Your Letter May Help 11 hours ago
The Rise and Fall of the (American?) Church May 23
The Ideal of Pope Francis: the Servant Church May 23

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Pope strongly supports call for reform in religious life CWN - May 8