R-43 Pope in denial... plays dumb to past... now urges "action" on sexual abuse....

Pope urges action on sexual abuse

The Catholic Church must take all necessary steps to prevent further occurrences of child sex abuse by clergy, Pope Benedict has said.... To do this, the church had to find out what had happened in the past, he said....Pope Benedict said that abuse scandals had created deep wounds in the church.

"It is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again," he said, according to a copy of the speech released by the Vatican.... "Above all, (it is important) to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes."