Joe Ratzinger, AKA Pope Benedict XVI, has issued a formal statement condemning child abuse by Catholic priests. So what! The staggering amount of sexual abuse committed by these criminals is only now starting to come to light. The Catholic Church has been abusing children since its inception. Meanwhile everyone just looks the other way. The lip service form the Pope is just that – lip service. In the United States, a victim support group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the statement “meaningless and self-serving.” These priests should be treated like any other criminal and sentenced accordingly. As to the huge sexual-abuse scandal in Ireland, the Pope has done nothing than issue his meaningless statement and accept the resignation of one priest. It is typically the practice of the Catholic Church to “buy off” anyone making a claim against the them. All we can hope is that more and more people will continue to come forward and perhaps  inflict enough financial burden on the church to get them to curb their criminal behavior.