The Apology

It's difficult not to notice that certain groups in society busy themselves with the task of demanding apologies. Media coverage of the pope's participation in World Youth Day in Australia has focused almost singularly on an anticipated "apology" by the Holy Father for acts of sexual abuse committed by priests against minors in that country. Now, I will concede that there is a corollary between a leadership role and the assumption of responsibility within an institution and, in that sense, there may be room for discussion regarding the need for apologies. What the pope may say privately in Australia or has said, as in the case of his meeting in the US with victims of abuse, is relevant and very meaningful to those who truly were violated. But I don't think this is what the mainstream media and the left are after when they glib endlessly about "apologies." First of all, just from looking at the facts one may ask: For what exactly does Pope Benedict have to apologize? What did he do wrong? In the sense of being genuinely sorry that sexual abuse has transpired, yes he and everyone is sorry; it shouldn't have happened, period. As I see it, the obsession with extracting mea culpas seems to have more to do with an attempt to depict the Holy Father as somehow in the wrong personally and in need of the forgiveness of a more enlightened, secular world. And why is it that the pope and the Catholic Church (one could just as well toss in the president and the United States) are the solitary entities that are ever expected to grovel before the world and implore forgiveness for past transgressions? Even when apologies are issued, they hardly assuage the granitic wrath of those forces that are unwaveringly committed to overseeing a complete overhaul of the composition of the Church and her message. "See, the pope apologized, he admits he is wrong and with him his church!" The apologies, as they see them, are simply a helpful means toward discrediting and humiliating the Church and pope in the eyes of the world.