Free Advice to the Pontiff

Just change one thing:

“Attacks on the pope and the church come not only from outside the church, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sin that exists inside the church,” Benedict told reporters aboard his plane en route to Portugal, speaking about the abuse crisis.

“This we have always known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way, that the greatest persecution of the church does not come from the enemies outside but is born from the sin in the church,” he added. “The church has a profound need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn on the one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. And forgiveness does not substitute justice.”

This my free advice: Stop using the word "persecution." To say that someone or something is being "persecuted" implies that one is being attacked unjustly, because of prejudice, for no real reason.

That is most assuredly not what is going on. There is no reason to rehash the history of the church in this regard, not the abuses, which were systemic in many locations, and which were covered up by the hierarchy. "Persecution" is not what is going on here. This is more of a bitter harvest. There is a proverb about that.

Furthermore, forgiveness, in this regard, is not something that is in the church's power to grant, it can only beg it from those who were abused.

It will probably help a bit in that regard if the church stops regarding itself as the victim, here. The word "persecution" should be purged from the church's vocabulary for the duration.