CATHOLIC churches in Europe rallied behind Pope Benedict yesterday, rejecting claims he had covered up child sex abuse by priests and praising him as a leader determined to combat scandals challenging the Church.
France's bishops conference, the Archbishop of London and the Munich archdiocese that Benedict once headed all rejected allegations from the media a day after the Vatican accused its critics of an "ignoble attempt" to smear him.
Also yesterday, B
ishop Adrianus van Luyn, head of the Dutch bishops conference, admitted he knew three decades ago about abuse cases there revealed last month.
In Rome, an influential order of priests, whose late founder, the Rev Marcial Maciel, was found to be a molester who had fathered at least one child, apologised to abuse victims and disowned him.
"Very Holy Father… we send you a cordial message of support in this difficult period our Church is going through," the French bishops said in a statement that referred to "a campaign to attack your person and your service to the Church".
Archbishop of London Vincent Nichols said Benedict made important changes in Church law to fight child abuse when he was the Vatican's top doctrinal official.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch bishops conference confirmed that Bishop van Luyn had known about sexual abuse cases in schools run by the Salesian order when he was their province leader from 1975 to 1981.
The Dutch bishops launched an independent inquiry headed by a Protestant politician soon after victims, emboldened by debates about sexual abuse in Ireland and Germany, came forward early this month to accuse three Salesian priests of abuse.
"In his capacity as provincial from 1975 to 1981, the then Reverend van Luyn did learn about some cases and had to take measures," it said in a statement without saying what he did.
