Well I’m grateful he’s acknoweldged his mistake.  I do like this Pope a lot, and he’s right that internal squabbles are going to destroy us if we don’t operate out of love.

In the letter addressed to the world’s bishops, which the Vatican will release on Thursday, the pope also says he was pained by Catholics’ criticism of him and that the Vatican could have foreseen problems if it had used the Internet more.

It is extremely rare in Church history for a pope to have to explain his actions to his bishops after the fact and to acknowledge that things went wrong.

“The letter is very personal, very anguished, very pained but very honest,” said an Italian bishop who received it and discussed it on the condition that he remain anonymous.

The pope says the affair unleashed a storm of “vehemence” and hurt him deeply, particularly because much of the criticism came from Catholics.