Last month, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released its latest survey detailing how the public views Pope Benedict's handling of the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Results: not so good.

According to the survey, the number of people who believe the Pope has done a poor job of handling the scandal has increased dramatically in almost every category in the past two years.

A New York Times/CBS poll published May 4 shows that the vast majority of American Catholics believe the Church covered up the sex scandal in the past but is now looking for ways to prevent further sexual abuse of children by priests. Interestingly, those surveyed also believe that the news media have been harder on the Catholic Church than they would have been if the controversy had embroiled another religious organization.

Peggy Noonan, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, titled her angle on the situation "The Catholic Church's Catastrophe," and although she gave the Pope and the press credit for confronting the scandal, her final analysis was nothing short of pending doom.

"It is damage that will last at least a generation. It is an actual catastrophe, a rolling catastrophe that became public first in the United States, now in Europe. It has lowered the standing, reputation and authority of the church. This will have implications down the road."

In the vein of "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," the Vatican caught a break when Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed her state's controversial immigration bill into law. The rekindled immigrant-rights issue, a topic in the wheelhouse for the Catholic hierarchy, will provide an opportunity for the Pope's proxies to reap some positive PR as the Church returns to the "days of old" as a movement focused on giving voice to the tribulations of the voiceless.

In his newly launched and irregularly updated blog, Cardinal Roger Mahony quickly denounced the law, referring to it as a "German Nazi and Russian Communist technique" that is the "most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law that is totally flawed in its reasoning." Mahony took his mission to the streets, spending May Day at the immigrant-rights rally in Los Angeles.

BUT JOURNALIST BEWARE: Don't be distracted by this sleight-of-hand. This Church-inspired movement to give succor to those who are oppressed by politicians mustn't obscure the plight of those who have been abused by the Church's own.

Noonan wrote, "Without the famous 2002 Boston Globe Spotlight series with its monumental detailing of the sex abuse scandals in just one state, Massachusetts, the Church would most likely have continued to do what it has done for half a century, which is look away, hush up, pay off and transfer."

The news media must continue to scrutinize the Catholic Church, whose leaders and representatives engaged in a shocking degree of neglect and malfeasance that--it bears repeating--journalists were instrumental in exposing.

"In both the U.S. and Europe," Noonan wrote, "the scandal was dug up and made famous by the press. This has aroused resentment among church leaders, who this week accused journalists of spreading 'gossip,' of going into 'attack mode' and showing 'bias.'"

This gnashing of teeth should make journalists proud to be in the profession. We must not shy away from chasing social predators with ferocity, whether they are neighborhood drug dealers, crooked politicians or corrupt figures in respected religious institutions.

There should never be a free pass for anyone or any organization. It is the responsibility of press to present the truth to the public. A professor of media law recently said to a group of young journalists, "Press freedom is not worth anything unless you have the courage to use it."  

If I were a religious man I would admonish you with a passage found in First Chronicles 19:13 from the Hebrew Bible, but since I am a degenerate journalist I will just say, "Be strong, courageous and unafraid to stick it to anyone for the sake of the little people of this world. That is why we do what we do."

John Adams is a second-year grad student at USC Annenberg, where he is working toward a Master's in online journalism. He was a pastor for 12 years before leaving his church and heading to grad school. He is now focused on sports journalism and is the co-founder of thesportsunion.com.