Benedict, the crisis, and setting the record straight

If you're watching developments in Germany and Ireland, and wondering what to make of them all as their ripples move closer and closer to the Vatican, here's an excellent piece that attempts to make sense of it all. John Allen succeeds in giving the whole, terrible mess a bit of perspective. It won't appease those who think the whole scandal demonstrates a media conspiracy against Catholics, and it won't satisfy those who are watching with a sense of schadenfreude at the toll it's taking on the Church. Hopefully, however, it will be enlightening for both sides, as well as the rest of us who are in between.