The Pope appears to see the scandal as a conspiracy stirred up by the secular media (e.g. aren’t there paedophiles among secular youth works too?) and said that the Roman Catholic church will ‘not be intimidated’ or bow to ‘petty gossip’. The crisis has arisen as accusations of paedophile abuse by some priests have emerged in many countries. The Pope apologised in a seven-page letter to Irish victims in March. He himself has been accused of covering up at least one such case in Germany while he was a cardinal.