World | Pope Benedict XVI It's Time to Man Up, Benedict Vatican needs to stop covering up and admit its role By Polly Davis Doig Posted Apr 4, 2010 9:52 AM CDT Copied Pope Benedict XVI is helped by Bishop Guido Marini at the end of the "Urbi et Orbi" (To the city and the World) message, in St. Peter's square, Sunday, April 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Maureen Dowd's column never rests on Sundays, and she takes this Easter to continue her full-on assault of Pope Benedict, this time eviscerating the Vatican's chief exorcist's assertion that the New York Times' unfavorable coverage of the sex abuse scandal has been "prompted by the Devil." "The Devil didn’t make me do it," she writes. "The facts did." Unrepentant, Dowd demands that the Church repent, taking particular exception to the exorcist's defense of priestly pedophilia as falling "into temptation" ("falling into temptation is eating cupcakes after you’ve given them up for Lent," not "rape and molestation of children.") And with Benedict's own preacher comparing the wave of negative publicity to anti-Semitism, Dowd wants the Vatican to stop defending itself and just cop to its role: "It is in crises that leaders are tested, that we get to see if they succumb to their worst instincts or summon their better angels. All Benedict has to do is the right thing." Read These Next White House rolls with Trump's 'daddy' nickname. New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Supreme Court ruling is a big blow to Planned Parenthood. Gavin Newsom has filed a massive lawsuit against Fox News. Report an error