ROME'Pope John Paul II, in a ringing denunciation of sexual abuse, declared Tuesday that there is no place in the Roman Catholic priesthood for those who molest the young.
Speaking to an extraordinary meeting of cardinals summoned from the United States in the wake of the clerical sex scandal rocking the church there, the pope called the abuse of minors both a civil crime and \an appalling sin.""
His emphatic statement, several cardinals said later, was an unmistakable signal that he expects bishops to cooperate fully with law-enforcement authorities in ferreting out offending priests.
Shifting from the defensive tone of his recent remarks, which had agonized over the scandal's demoralizing blow to the church and its clergy, the pope sounded a note of compassion for the victims of sex abuse. Since January, dozens of American priests have been accused of sex crimes and bishops have been faulted for covering some of them up.
""To the victims and their families, wherever they may be, I express my profound sense of solidarity and concern,"" the pope said. The actions of abusing priests, he said, had caused ""suffering and scandal to the young"" and undermined trust in the church.
""People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young,"" the pope told the 12 U.S. cardinals, two U.S. bishops and leading Vatican cardinals. ""They must know that bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality.""
But the pope, who believes in the transformative power of religious experiences, also raised the possibility of a changed life for a repentant fallen priest.
""We cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God,"" he said.
Whether a priest undergoing such a ""conversion"" would be allowed to remain a priest remained open to question.
