VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is urging Catholics to be intransigent toward sin but not to judge the sinner.
The pontiff addressed pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday but didn't mention his rebuke to Irish bishops a day earlier for their handling of decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors. He told English-speaking pilgrims they should humbly beg forgiveness for their own failings.
Benedict read the Gospel passage about Jesus' inviting those without sin to cast the first stone toward an adulterer.
In his letter made public Saturday by the Vatican, Benedict said Irish bishops made grave errors of judgment during the sex abuse scandal. But he didn't blame Vatican policies of keeping abuse secret as part of the problem, as victims have demanded.
