Vatican officials defend Pope on abuse

The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called "aggressive attempts" to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading sex scandals ofpriests in his German homeland and contended he has long confrontedabuse cases with courage.

In separate interviews, both the Holy See's spokesman and its prosecutor for sex abuse of minors by clergy sought to defend the pope.

After decades of similar scandals in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere, the sex abuse scandal moved closer to Benedict in recent days.

After accusations of abuse connected to the Regensburg boys choir directed by the Pope's elder brother for 30 years, the Munich archdiocese acknowledged on Friday that it had transferred a suspected pedophile priest to community work while Benedict was archbishop there.

Criticism has also mounted over a 2001 church directive Benedict wrote while a Vatican cardinal, instructing bishops to keep abuse cases confidential.

"There is no reason to accuse him, the Pope is a person whose clarity, transparency and decisiveness in facing such problems is absolutely out of question," Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said.

Lombardi also cited an interview with the Italian bishops conference daily Avvenire on Saturday, in which the Vatican's prosecutor for sex abuse cases, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, contended that the future pope dealt firmly with the abuse.

As Vatican cardinal in charge of the policy on sex abuse, the future pope "showed wisdom and firmness in handling these cases," said Scicluna, a Maltese prelate. in an interview entitled "The Church is tough on pedophilia."

New task force

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising announced late Friday it was setting up a new task force to focus on raising awareness about preventing sexual abuse within the church and its institutions.

The new task force will also collaborate with the workgroup tasked with working through allegations of past abuse.

General vicar of the archdiocese, Prelate Peter Beer, said that group would be expanded to include an external, independent legal office.

The archdiocese, where Pope Benedict XVI served as archbishop from 1977 to 1982, set up the workgroup last month after allegations of abuse in a church-run school surfaced.

Thomas Mayer told Germany's Der Spiegel weekly that he had been sexually and physically abused while singing in the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir through 1992.

Mayer's abuse allegations, published Saturday, are the first that overlap with the tenure of the pontiff's brother Georg Ratzinger, who the led group from 1964 to 1994. Previously reported cases of sexual abuse dates back to the late 1950s.

Mayer charged in Spiegel that he had been raped by older pupils.

The Regensburg diocese has refused to comment on the report.