"From God comes the courage not to be intimidated by petty gossip." This is the Pope's response, or rather non-response, to the sexual abuse allegations that are beginning to reveal the rampant evil permeating every dark corner of the Catholic church, winding its way through our city streets, entering our homes and changing the lives of innocent children forever. It's an infection that begins and ends at the highest level, yet the Vatican refuses to take any responsibility in this crisis. It cowers beneath the guise of righteousness and boldly claims the role of victim for itself while simultaneously diminishing the experiences of those who have suffered in silence for generations...reducing their pain to "petty gossip." Children have suffered at the hands of criminals in the name of faith. It's the worst kind of evil, and a judgment day is coming for the Catholic church. Voices find strength in number, and they are demanding to be heard...and they are rightly outraged. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Was there ever a truer example of this than the Vatican itself? May the fear, and the shame, and the consequence that it has quietly thrust upon the innocent for generations be visited upon all the perpetrators tenfold. And may they suffer at the hands of a faith that forsakes them, as their victims and followers suffer now.