This week, in the German journal Herder Korrespondenz, the Pope emeritus has weighed in on the negative responses to his April letter on the sexual abuse crisis. From the National Catholic Register:

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has responded to criticism of his essay on the abuse crisis, saying many negative reactions have confirmed his central thesis that apostasy and alienation from the Faith are at the heart of the crisis – by not even mentioning God in their critique of his essay.

This strikes me as a very astute evaluation. Of course, in some quarters of the Church, his attempt to assess the situation in light of an abandonment of God is not being well received… see the combox over at America magazine, for example.
In Genesis 3, the serpent approached Eve and insinuated that an unhealthy mandate had been given by God. When Eve and Adam decided that the serpent had given the correct evaluation of the situation, everything crumbled into suspicion and fear. Once suspicion and fear were given reign, and the attempt was made to find happiness by declaring autonomy — the abandonment of dependence of God — Eve and Adam lost their true identity and everything went haywire.
Saint Paul made a similar point in the opening of his letter to the Romans:

Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes. Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions.

Are we really unwilling and unable to understand our current situation in light of this primordial and perennial situation?
The Second Vatican Council articulated it well:

The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.
Gaudium et Spes, 22