"When civil law establishes an obligation to report on the part of someone informed about the facts," Dalla Torre said, "the reduction of the pontifical secret and the detail on the limits of the ‘office secret’ permit a ready fulfillment of the requirements of the law, thereby favoring full collaboration with civil authorities and preventing illegitimate incursions of the civil authority into the canonical sphere."

“The abusive clergy were in many ways adolescents themselves, and most of their offenses consisted of fumbling efforts at intimacy” . . . provided of course that the privacy of victims is protected . . . If we allow disgust to keep us from hearing such stories, we are protecting no one but ourselves.

With all due respect to the bishop, one has to ask: What was the thought process that brought him . . . to publishing the names of 17 of his priests — before the allegations were even proven? Anecdotally, the new national organization known as Men of Melchizedek is at present receiving roughly one new request each day for material and/or legal assistance from priests in need.

“People ask for simple answers to very complex problems, and they cling to a certain kind of idea simply because it seems to explain very easily where the problem is and how you can get rid of it.”

Without waiting for further tests, without instituting an investigation, or further assessing the accusations to ascertain the dynamics of the facts the case was put in the hands of the Supreme Pontiff who has sentenced the immediate suspension of the priest.