Christian Terras

runs the progressive Catholic magazine 'Golias'. This publication has been among the harshest critics of Rome. For two decades it has condemned the 'laissez faire' approach of the Church towards the sexual abuse of children.

"If Benedict XVI, the future Benedict XVI, becomes aware in the beginning of this decade the extent of the problem, how serious it is, and takes internal measures, there's only so much he can do. The honour of the Church calls for it not to cooperate with civil justice authorities."

Hans Küng

is a theology professor. His is one of the most critical voices of Benedict XVI's papacy. He advocates deep reform within the Catholic Church to solve the issue of paedophile priests, including re-opening the debate on tending celibacy and allowing women to become priests.

"And it must be said that the Pope does have a responsibility, because, since he was prefect of the faith, he was shown everything, for the last 22 years".

Federico Lombardi

is the Vatican's spokesman. He gave an exclusive interview to euronews to answer several accusations made against the Catholic Church in the recent wave of sex abuse scandals.

"...the contradiction of actions which are manifestly opposed to what we teach from the point of view of moral behaviour and respect of others, obviously hurts in a harder, deeper way for an institution that maintains and wants to keep its moral authority".

Jörg Fegert

is a child psychologist. In 2004 he contributed, as an independent expert, to a Vatican report on how to prevent child abuse. He participates in the series of roundtable talks organised by the German government and the Catholic Church to discuss measures to avoid further cases inside the religous institutions.

"An apology when it is just a gesture is not enough, in my opinion. But what I think is very, very important is the fact that these events are being discussed in public, that a big and powerful institution is confronted with the negative outcome of its deeds".