While I may quibble with the author of this article entitled Pope Benedict says Catholic Church must 'do penance' , I believe it is worth a glance as I am convinced that these difficult times for the Church and for the Holy Father are an excellent opportunity for righting the course of the Barque of St. Peter through the Episcopate leading the Church in repentance and corporate penance that leads to more true devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as well as devotion to His Most Holy Mother Mary. The article can be found at this URL : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8622671.stm.
The following I quote from the BBC article:
'Penance is a grace'
During Mass at the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Benedict appeared to make his first reference to the issue since 20 March, when he sent a letter to the Irish people about the abuse scandal in their country.
 |  Conformism which makes it obligatory to think and act like everyone else, and the subtle - or not so subtle - aggression towards the Church, demonstrate how this conformism can really be a true dictatorship  Pope Benedict XVI |
"I must say, we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word 'repent', which seemed too tough," he said.
"But now, under attack from the world which talks to us of our sins, we can see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how necessary it is to do penance and thus recognise what is wrong in our lives."
The Pope said this involved "opening oneself up to forgiveness, preparing oneself for forgiveness, allowing oneself to be transformed".
He also hit back at critics of the Church, portraying them as in the thrall of a conformist dictatorship.
"Conformism which makes it obligatory to think and act like everyone else, and the subtle - or not so subtle - aggression towards the Church, demonstrate how this conformism can really be a true dictatorship," he said.
Earlier this month, the pontiff's personal preacher was forced to apologise for having highlighted a comparison between criticism of the Church over the abuse allegations and "the collective violence suffered by the Jews".
In a sermon, Father Raniero Cantalamessa quoted a Jewish friend who said that attacks on the Church echoed "the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism", such as the use of stereotypes and the spreading of collective guilt.
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