Pope Benedict XVI, beginning a controversial visit to Britain, acknowledged Thursday that the Catholic Church had failed to act decisively or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children. He said the church's top priority now was to help the victims heal. The pope's comments to reporters traveling with him from Rome marked his most thorough admission to date of church failures to deal with pedophile priests. The issue has reignited with the recent revelations in Belgium of hundreds of new victims, at least 13 of whom had committed suicide. Benedict's four-day state visit has been overshadowed by anger over the abuse scandal and indifference in the highly secular country, where Catholics are a minority at 10 percent and have endured centuries of anti-Catholic persecution. The pope's first meeting Thursday was with Queen Elizabeth II, both head of state and head of the Church of England, at The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Benedict was warmly welcomed by the queen. In her remarks, the queen told Benedict that his visit reminded all Britons of their common Christian heritage and said she hoped relations between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church would be deepened as a result. “We know from experience that through committed dialogue, old suspicions can be transcended and a greater mutual trust encouraged,” she said. The pope, too, recalled the shared Christian heritage of Catholics and Anglicans and said he wanted to extend a “hand of friendship” to the British people during his trip. Benedict referred indirectly to his own roots, recalling how Britain fought the “Nazi tyranny” during World War II. The British media has been particularly hostile to the pope's visit, noting its $18.7 million cost to British taxpayers at a time of austerity measures and job losses. Protests are planned, “Pope Nope” T-shirts have been spotted around London. Asked about polls that suggest many Catholics had lost trust in the church as a result of the sex abuse scandal, Benedict said he was shocked and saddened about the scope of the abuse. “It's also sad that the authority of the church wasn't sufficiently vigilant, and not sufficiently quick or decisive to take necessary measures” to stop it. He insisted that abusive priests must never be allowed access to young children, saying they suffer from an illness that “goodwill” cannot cure. In addition, he said, candidates for the priesthood must be better screened to screen out possible abusers.
