Ok Pope...

I'll be the first to admit I don't go to Church often enough and I'm not always the best Catholic. That said, I'm still Catholic and I've gone to Catholic schools the majority of my life. So the mess the Church has found itself in has a degree of resonance.

The Vatican seems to have (tacitly, at least) drawn the battle lines and decided to man the ramparts in response to the growing problems they face about abuse by priests. What they have to realize is that they are up a creek and the best response is that "the truth will set them free." By fighting back or denying they seem to be covering things up to those outside the Church.

These problems will not go away, especially if their existence and scope are not acknowledged. The Vatican is out of options in fact. Fighting back is a last ditch and completely incorrect response. For an organization that is supposed to be open, loving, and following in the steps of God this is completely wrongheaded.

To start the beginning of the end for this scandal the Pope needs to forcefully say that all abuse by priests is wrong and there is no statue of limitations any longer in effect. Then he needs to act to create guidelines to prevent abuse from happening in the future. Get ahead of your critics. Act decisively and swiftly. Make sure that heads roll for those who abused and allowed abuse to occur. But at the same time make sure that abuse cases are properly investigated (by outside police organizations) so that freeloaders cannot hitch themselves to these charges.

Think of Letterman. He was able to get in front of the story. He was embarassed but suffered far less than if he had waited for someone else to break the news. Compare that to Tiger Woods who let the news get far ahead of him. When he eventually did open up it was too little too late.

In sum: fighting back will only make matters worse. Instead, pre-empt critics and get a jump on these charges. But also take necessary measures to make sure false accusations are rooted out.