A US priest has urged Pope Benedict XVI to step down amid scandals of child sexual abuses by former clergies that has engulfed the Roman Catholic Church. An ardent critic of sexual abuses committed by Catholic priests, the Rev. James Scahill of the parish of St. Michael's Church in Massachusetts used his last weekend's sermon to call on the 82-year old Pontiff to resign for the good of the Catholic Church.
"If he can't take the consequences of being truthful on this matter, his integrity should lead him, for the good of the church, to step down and to have the conclave of cardinals elect a pope with the understanding that the elected pope would be willing to take on this issue, not just in promise," Scahill said, according to a CNN report on Tuesday.
Scahill dismissed the idea of blaming the media for spotlighting the church's child sex abuses and molestations, arguing that the media's conduct forced the church to openly deal with the controversial issue.
"I have met with countless victims of abuse. I have lives I can relate this to, and you know anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows the media has not created this scandal," he said.
"The institutional church has brought this onto themselves."
The revelation of sexual abuses in the church over the years has caused a great fury among followers of the Catholic Church as well as others.
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