Church Too Lenient on Sex-Abuse Priests- Poll
March 23, 2002 03:54 PM ET  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three-quarters of American Roman Catholics think the Church has been too lenient in dealing with priests who sexually abuse children, and a majority consider it to be a serious problem, according to a Newsweek poll released on Saturday.

Amid an escalating wave of sex scandals involving U.S. Catholic clerics, a majority of Americans, both Catholic and non-Catholic, say they are in favor of allowing priests to marry -- which half think would help reduce the problem.

Earlier this week, Pope John Paul II broke his silence on the scandal of pedophile priests, which developed after a Boston priest was convicted in January of molesting a 10-year-old boy. The pope said Catholic priests who abuse children were carrying out the worst form of evil.

The Boston priest, John Geoghan, who was accused of molesting more than 130 children over 30 years, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Since then, the sex abuse scandal has spread across the country, with more cases emerging in California, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

The Newsweek poll showed 77 percent of those polled, and 74 percent of Catholics, felt the Church had been too lenient in dealing with priests who sexually abuse children.

The scandal has touched two of the most senior cardinals, Bernard Law of Boston and Edward Egan of New York, who have been accused by critics of mishandling abuse cases.

The poll also found that 76 percent of Americans, and 67 percent of Catholics, considered the scandal of priests sexually abusing children to be a serious problem for the Church.

Almost 70 percent of Catholics interviewed were in favor of ordaining married men as priests, and 46 percent said it would reduce the problem of sex abuse by priests.

Sixty-four percent of American Catholics were also in favor of allowing women priests.

The poll of 1,001 people conducted earlier this week had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Of those polled, 27 percent were Catholic.

The U.S. bishops conference has put the issue of child sexual abuse by clergy on the agenda at its general meeting, set for June 13-15 in Dallas.