In 2002, when the Roman Catholic clergy abuse scandal first broke, it remained the number one topic of interest for months after. Americans were glued to the story as lurid tales of abuse began to pour in from dioceses across the country. However, a new study shows that interest in the Catholic Church abuse scandal has dropped, ever since the focus shifted from the US to the Vatican and the Pope.

The study examined mainstream, as well as Catholic media, coverage of the clergy abuse scandal this spring. The study found that approximately 50% of the media reports between March 12 and April 27 focused on Pope Benedict. There should be no surprise there, because the Pope has been drawn increasingly toward the center of the controversy. This has been largely due to allegations that he remained indifferent even after he learned of abuse that had been going on before he was chosen Pope in 2005.

Sexual abuse attorneys will find even less surprising the fact that the coverage has served mainly to tarnish Pope Benedict’s image. Only 12% of Americans believe that he has done a good job of handling the sexual abuse crisis in the church.

The study also found that back in 2002, the American media attention was devoted heavily to coverage of the scandal, and now that the scandal has moved to Europe, including Austria and Ireland, the coverage is heavier on the continent compared to this country. There should be no surprises there, either. After all, media interest is transient depending on the hot news story of the day.

However, sexual abuse attorneys would call for continued media focus and attention on the abuse scandal. The crisis in the US is far from over, and we need to keep focused on the depth of abuse that occurred in this country. Hundreds of thousands of children were abused over the past two decades and if we forget that, we encourage it to happen again.