Pope blames church's sins for scandal

May 11,2010
By Nicole Winfield
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LISBON (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday blamed the church's own sins for the clerical abuse scandal -- not a campaign mounted by outsiders -- and called for profound purification to end what he called the "greatest persecution" the church has endured.

His strong comments placed the blame for the crisis squarely on the sins of pedophile priests, repudiating the Vatican's initial response to the scandal, in which it blamed the media as well as pro-choice and pro-gay marriage advocates for mounting a campaign against the church and the pope. the rest