The head of the Austrian Church has launched an attack of one of the most senior cardinals in the Vatican, saying that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, \u201cdeeply wronged\u201d\u009d the victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy when he dismissed media reports of the scandal. In a meeting with editors of the main Austrian daily newspapers last week, Cardinal Christoph Sch\u00c3\u00b6nborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, also said the Roman Curia was \u201curgently in need of reform\u201d\u009d, and that lasting gay relationships deserved respect. He reiterated his view that the Church needs to reconsider its position on re-married divorcees.<\/p>\n
On Easter Day, Cardinal Sodano called the mounting reports of clerical sex abuse \u201cpetty gossip\u201d\u009d. This had \u201cdeeply wronged the victims\u201d\u009d, Cardinal Sch\u00c3\u00b6nborn said, and he recalled that it was Cardinal Sodano who had prevented Joseph Ratzinger, then a cardinal, from investigating allegations of abuse made against Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, the previous Archbishop of Vienna, who resigned in disgrace in 1995.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Sch\u00c3\u00b6nborn said that Pope Benedict was \u201cgently\u201d\u009d working on reforming the Curia but he had the whole world on his desk, as the cardinal put it, and his way of working and his style of communication did not make it easy to advise him quickly from outside.<\/p>\n