Background Reading on the Recent Attacks on Pope Benedict XVI

This article, "The Dictatorship of Relativism Strikes Back," by a Lutheran theologian, John Stephenson, is one of the best in-depth discussions of who Benedict XVI is and why the liberal media want to destroy him. It is balanced and clear in situating the pope in the overall context of modern Roman Catholic theology as a moderate. It distinguishes between Catholic - Protestant theological differences, which are real, and the attack on Christianity itself that is occurring today.

This article, "Moral Panic Flares Again," by Italian sociologist, Massimo Introvigne, is an excellent overview of the history and statistics of the Roman Catholic child abuse crisis. He puts the problem in context without denying its reality. He asks why is this issue suddenly becoming such an obsession with the secular media and their liberal Protestant and Catholic allies at this moment? He also shows that over three quarters of the problem involves priests having homosexual sex with post-pubescent boys. He offers a very interesting and rational perspective from a sociological point of view.

You may have read about the latest "scandal" story in the past few days from the Associated Press. This is an especially appalling piece of "yellow journalism" and Father Z shreds it here.

The Catholic Herald, an English Catholic paper has a good article entitled "The Pope and the Abuse Scandal: a Guide for Perplexed Catholics," which gives a good overview of the situation.

UPDATES:
The Catholic League has a summary of social scientific studies comparing the actual rates and kinds of sexual abuse of children and others in the Roman Catholic Church to various other sectors of society including schools and Protestant Churches. It really puts the Catholic situation in perspective and raises the obvious question of why the Roman Catholic Church is being singled out by the media.

George Weigel has short but clear piece here in the Philadelphia Inquirer which addresses the fact that Pope Benedict XVI has taken the lead in ridding the Church of its "filth."