Ex-Pope: I Never Shielded Pervy Priests

In his first public comments since resigning, today former Pope Palpatine denied the long-running accusations that he shielded pedophile priests from exposure and prosecution.

The comments – which a victims’ group rejected – were made in an 11-page letter to Italian author and mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who had written a book about the problems facing the Roman Catholic Church before the pope resigned in February. “As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these things,” said Benedict, who now has the title Emeritus Pope. Excerpts of the letter were published in the Rome newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday with the former pope’s permission. It was believed to be the first time Benedict has responded to the sexual abuse accusations in the first person, although the Vatican has always said he did much to put an end to sexual abuse of minors by priests and never tried to cover it up.

The victims group SNAP responded: “As head of CDF [Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith], thousands of cases of predator priests crossed his desk. Did he choose to warn families or call police about even one of those dangerous clerics? No. That, by definition, is a cover up.” (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)