Off Message

Whatever the Pope may say, Belgium has the right idea in letting the police, not the Church, investigate allegations of clerical child abuse – and those suspected in the cover-up

‘Surprising and deplorable.” ‘‘Serious and unbelievable.” A ‘‘moment of sadness’’.

An event that was unprecedented, ‘‘even under communist regimes’’.

For a moment there, it seemed to have finally sunk in.

Hearing the words last weekend of Pope Benedict XVI and his Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, on the latest developments in the Church sex abuse scandals sweeping Belgium, you might have been forgiven for thinking that the full horror of the abuse ...