Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI issued a "pastoral letter" to be read out at all Catholic masses in Ireland.  The letter was widely trailed as an apology for the many instances of sexual abuse committed by paedophile Catholic priests and the role of the church in covering up these abuses and protecting the abusing priests.

Now it is here, however, the letter seems to be more of a public relations exercise, blaming the Irish bishops for their policy of simply moving paedophile priests around and swearing their victims to secrecy, whilst making no mention at all of the Pope's own role in protecting the offending priests from the law.

Before he became Pope, Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an office of the Catholic Church which used to be called the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (yes, that Inquisition!), and was affectionately known as "the Pope's rottweiler".

The role of the Congregation is to defend and reaffirm Catholic doctrine, including teaching on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious dialogue, but the Congregation also has jurisdiction over other matters, including cases involving the seal of the confessional, clerical sexual misconduct and other matters.  It acts, in effect, as a court for the Catholic church.

It was in his role as Prefect of the Congregation, that in 2001 Ratzinger issued a letter instructing that any case of a priest being accused of having sex with anyone under the age of 18 should be referred immediately to the Congregation for them, and them alone, to deal with confidentially.  This letter ensured that paedophile priests would be "dealt with" entirely within the church and effectively protected from the prosecution and imprisonment that awaits secular paedophiles.  In many cases they were simply moved from one parish to another, where the abuse continued.  Victims were persuaded to keep quiet about their abuse, and sometimes even paid for their silence.

It is the failure of the Pope's "apology" to apologise for this institutional protection of paedophile priests and the attendant culture of cover-up, and his own role in this policy, that has most upset the church's critics and will ensure that we have not heard the last of this scandal.