Remember what Sister Lucia of Fatima said to Fr Fuentes in 1957: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that offends God the most, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”

“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell. … The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God.” Silencing of the Messengers: Father Fuentes (1959 – 1965) | The Fatima Center

Of course we have free will, and I am certainly not attempting to claim that Fr Jackson had no responsibility for his actions, but we must be aware - as Sr Lucia told us - that the devil is taking possession of consecrated souls. And I suspect that the more a priest is trying to be holy, the more he will be attacked. And if he has some kind of latent perversion, the devil will surely exploit that, which is why the Church, in Her wisdom, gave us the document in 1961 titled Religiosorum Institutio, which states:- "Advantage to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers." Religiosorum Institutio Instruction on the Careful Selection And Training Of Candidates For The States Of Perfection And Sacred Orders If this document had been followed to the letter, a lot of innocent victims would have been spared, but like so much else, it was largely ignored.

I think we have to look deeper. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is The Innocent yet did not defend Himself. He allowed the evil to sweep over Him and entrusted Himself to The Father. He did not seek the justice of human courts for He Is Justice. This man pled guilty. If he was innocent, would be have pled guilty? Would a person innocent of a crime plead guilty so as to receive a lighter sentence? Maybe. But a priest? Hmmm ...... If he did, well we have a problem. If he is guilty and his plea is truthful,there is hope. I think we Catholics need to meditate on this. We spend too much time defending ourselves when we are guilty or innocent. Should we not follow Christ's example?