Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church are facing acute embarrassment by repeated revelations of sexual abuse of children by homosexual priests whether in Ireland, Austria, Holland, the United States or Germany.

It has now been reported that members of the world famous Vienna Boys Choir, a Catholic-run institution, also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their orchestra conductor. And, for the first time, the allegations have touched the Pope’s brother as well as the Pontiff himself, albeit indirectly. Worse, the charges reveal that the Church, instead of punishing the guilty shielded and sheltered them, transferring abusive priests instead of excommunicating them or giving them up to the authorities.

The increasingly serious church sex-abuse scandals have been blamed on what many consider to be obsolete rules, such as absolute celibacy, applied to the Catholic clergy, rules that Pope Benedict XVI, known for his conservative views, continues to defend.

Most of the allegations date back to the 1950s and because of the statute of limitations, many of the guilty now cannot be prosecuted.

However, German Catholic church authorities have launched two investigations into charges of abuse by members of the clergy. One will try to establish how much the clergy’s top echelon, including the Pope, who was then a Cardinal, knew about the abuse.

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