Thank you for the excellent summary of the report of Cahill and Wilkinson  on sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church around the world. While my own research, (in "The Church Reborn") fully supports the extent of the  abuse and the incredible callousness and disregard for future victims displayed by those in authority n their anxiety to escape responsibility I have never realized how far back this problem existed in history.  Neither did I realize that Pius X and Pius XI  were responsible for an increase in the problem by lowering the age for confession and imposing strict secrecy on reporting such crimes in the new Code of Canon Law.
But the most outstanding contribution seems, to me at least, to be their account of the history of the problem over the centuries and their analysis of how the clerical culture concealed the crimes.
The two authors will probably not receive the thanks they deserve but they may achieve the changes  we need in the Church.
Thank you both.
Bill Keane