Opinion: Governments must step into abuse cases

We've come to a remarkable moment in the ongoing clergy abuse crisis. What began years ago as revelations of sexual abuse by priests - recounted, in solitary acts of courage, by their victims and played out for the most part in parishes and local newspapers - suddenly seems to have gone global.

This is because Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Sean Brady, primate of all Ireland, are now involved in the crisis in a very ground-level way.

Read the full commentary by Terence McKiernan, founder and president of BishopAccountability.org