Not So Good Friday

Those who assume the title and instantly acquire all the trappings of Catholicism's cult of personality are just men elected by other men... And whatever our destiny, we all arrive with a past... One lived as ordinary human beings; without any pretense of infallibility.

When Pope Benedict XVI was still called Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he didn't defrock (strip of all priestly duties, power & privileges) an American priest who allegedly molested as many as 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin over the course of three decades. This latest disclosure comes a week after the Pope's role in mishandling a pedophile priest scandal while serving as Archbishop in Munich was exposed.

Internal Vatican communications records obtained by The New York Times, show several bishops had been told of the behavior of the serial molester of the deaf and did nothing for many years. When they finally did forward the matter to the Vatican it was to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (think police internal affairs), headed by Ratzinger. The office never convened procedures to expel the offender... Instead he was moved to another diocese where he continued to have regular interaction with children in schools, a parish church and even a juvenile detention center.

New York Times national religion correspondent, Laurie Goodstein, uncovered the documents and reports on what this means for the Vatican and the Pope himself. And she's joined by Walter Robinson, who led the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize winning investigative unit which documented in 2002 and 2003 sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese, leading to the resignation of the area's Cardinal Law.

Audio: PRI & WNYC's program The Takeaway 3/25/10, Host: John Hockenberry.

CNN's Jack Cafferty asked: "In light of the pope's role in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, should he resign?"

It's not unprecedented; 7 have... The last was Gregory XII in 1415.