The leader of Catholics in England and Wales said Sunday there was “no strong reason” for the pope to resign over abuse scandals rocking the Church, adding he had taken action to tackle the problem.
“The pope won’t resign. Frankly there’s no strong reason for him to do so. In fact it’s the other way around – he is the one above all else who has tackled these things,” Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC.
The Vatican has dismissed claims that Pope Benedict XVI was involved in a church-wide cover-up of clerical abuse of children, a scandal that has swept the United States and Europe.
Some commentators have suggested the pope could be forced to resign, but that seems highly unlikely – the pope is appointed for life and in the past 2,000 years there have been only two resignations, in 1294 and 1415.
“In fact in the church law, it was Cardinal Ratzinger, who pushed for very substantial changes,” he added, noting the pope had pushed for a fast-track system to defrock pedophile priests among other measures
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