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  Sex Abuse Victim Upset at the Pope

WTVH
April 17, 2008

http://www.wtvh.com/news/local/17890374.html

[with video]

Victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests express outrage at the pope. We spoke to Charles Bailey in Baldwinsville who was abused by a priest when he was a boy. He wants the pope to hold priests accountable for what they did.

Bailey says the abuse happened when he was only ten years old. He says he was raped repeatedly but he didn't have the courage to tell anyone for decades. He's upset at Pope Benedict for not directly apologizing to the victims of sex abuse. Bailey says, "I would say he could start by making a grand gesture, a public apology to all of us that have been abused."

Bailey's criticisms of the pope were shared by victims of sex abuse around the country. On Thursday, the pope prayed with half a dozen victims of sex abuse in a chapel in Washington, an extraordinary move on the part of a pope. The pope said, "It is important that those who have suffered be given loving, pastoral attention."

The pope is surprising many by taking on the subject of abuse by priests. He called it a deep shame and on Wednesday he told bishops the problem has been "badly handled." But for Charles Bailey, the pope needs to apologize and he needs to remove some the church's leaders in the United States. Bailey says, "Absolutely he needs to address it head-on. He needs to demand accountability and justice for those of us who have been wronged."

Bailey wrote a book about his experience titled "In the Shadow of the Cross." At 57, he says it's still difficult looking at himself in the mirror because of the guilt he feels from being raped many times as a boy.

 
 

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