Once more, the sexual sins of pedophile priests within the Roman Catholic Church are being discussed in the world press. Associated Press Writers Nicole Winfield and Victor L. Simpson filed a report on Saturday March 20, 2010 to that effect. While reading the news articles from an Evangelical perspective, there were, however, three areas of concerns I had.

My first area of concern. According to the article, there was a confession of priestly sins by the leadership of the Catholic Church, minus the acceptance of ultimate responsibility.

"VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI rebuked Irish bishops Saturday for "grave errors of judgment" in handling clerical sex abuse and ordered an investigation into the Irish church but did not mention any Vatican responsibility.

In a letter to the Irish faithful read across Europe amid a growing, multination abuse scandal, the pope doled out no specific punishments to bishops blamed by victims, and Irish government-ordered investigations, for having covered up abuse of thousands of Irish children from the 1930s to the 1990s.

Ireland's main group of clerical-abuse victims, One in Four, said it was deeply disappointed by the letter because it failed to lay blame with the Vatican for what it called a "deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children."

"If the church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial," the group said.

The letter directly addressed only Ireland, but the Vatican said it could be read as applying to other countries. Hundreds of new allegations of abuse have recently come to light across Europe, including in the pope's native Germany, where he served as archbishop in a diocese where several victims have recently come forward. One priest suspected of molesting boys while the future pope was in charge was transferred to a job where he abused more children."

My second area of concern involves a ecclesiastical threat of excommunication in order to cover up evil.

"While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger penned a letter instructing bishops around the world to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep them secret under threat of excommunication. Irish bishops have said the letter was widely understood to mean they shouldn't report the cases to police."

My third area of concern involves a failure to remove the root of unrighteousness.

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," Benedict said, addressing himself to Irish Catholics who suffered "sinful and criminal" abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns and a botched response by their superiors.

"It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church," he said. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel."

Benedict used his harshest words for the abusers themselves, saying they had betrayed the trust of the faithful, brought shame on the church and now must answer before God and civil authorities.

"Conceal nothing," he exhorted them. "Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy."

A New Consideration. While the Roman Catholic Church is to be commended for a public apology, in as far as it goes, the abuses will continue for centuries to come unless the Catholic Church moves beyond addressing the symptoms of evil to strike a blow at the root cause of the injurious behavior. To truly repent the Catholic Church must return to the authority of Scripture alone for its practices and conduct. When this is done three actions will take place.

First, ultimate responsibility will be accepted by the highest echelons of the church for official ecclesiastical policy that permitted evil to be practiced by protecting sex offenders. 1 John 1:8-9, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Second, the threat of excommunication must not be used to bind the conscience. The conscience must be taken captive by God’s Word, especially when the alternative is to bind the conscience to enhance secret sin.

Third, the doctrine of forced celibacy whereby priests are forbidden to marry must be reversed and abandoned, for this doctrine is specifically said in Scripture to be associated with the devil himself. 1 Timothy 4:1–3, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."