As Pope Benedict XVI arrived here Thursday for the first state visit to Britain by a pope, he offered his strongest criticism yet of the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s handling of the sex abuse crisis, saying it had not been \u201csufficiently vigilant\u201d\u009d or \u201csufficiently swift and decisive\u201d\u009d in cracking down on abusers.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on his flight from Rome, Benedict also said that the church\u2019s \u201cfirst interest is the victims.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
\u201cI must say that these revelations were a shock for me, a great sadness,\u201d\u009d he said of the crisis that has undermined the church\u2019s moral authority in many parts of Europe and beyond.<\/p>\n
He expressed \u201csadness also that the authority of the church was not was not sufficiently vigilant and not sufficiently swift and decisive to take the necessary measures.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n