Was the pope blaming ‘anti-Catholics’ for the recent allegations a sadly predicable reaction?

The recent allegations target the pope directly and allege that before he was pope, he was responsible for covering up pedophile priests and moving them to different parishes (where they abused more children) when he should have handed them over to the authorities. The pope has come out now with a press release stating that he will not bow to the demands of ‘anti-Catholics’ and his ‘faith in God’ is what is keeping him going. So he’s basically just crying ‘persecution’ and putting on a charade of piety like all religious weasels do when they’re caught red-handed, right?