Catholic Church Hasn't Fully Reckoned With Clergy Abuse Scandals

Reports of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church have become so routine -- and the scale of victimization and coverup so vast -- that the effect is to dull the impact of each new revelation. It appears that over the course of decades, practically every higher-up in the institution knew, or should have known, what was going on. Yet even the apparent sameness of so many disclosures and admissions, over so many years, should not blunt the importance of a recent report that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, as archbishop of the German cities of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, failed to discipline abusive priests and enabled them to maintain their roles in ministry.