In the parable in Mt.13:24-30, Jesus teaches us to be realistic about the nature of the kingdom of heaven, at least in it earthly phase. We must apply what he says to the Church on earth, for there is much "bad seed" sown among the good seed. Jesus speaks about "an enemy" and his work of sowing the bad seed. When the enemy of the Church is an outsider, the Church can be strong in facing up to him. When, however, the enemy is within the Church, the Church itself seems to be weakened and so suffers much. Indeed, once there are enemies within the Church itself, they seem to multiply.

The sexual scandal which has afflicted the Church shows this: there have been many real scandals, real cases of abuse and real cases of weakness on the part of authorities in dealing with such abuse. But many false cases have been brought against individuals out of sheer greed in order to get money or out of revenge. Those who bring such false cases usually claim to be Catholics, but their activities are the work of an enemy: their injustice robs the Church of the patrimony of the poor and the falsity of their claims calls in to question the truth of real cases of abuse.