ABC News
March 20, 2010
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/21/2851841.htm
AUSTRALIA -- An Australian victims group says the Pope should apologise to abuse victims in Australia, as well as people who were abused by priests in Ireland.
In a 13-page letter to Irish victims, the Pontiff has criticised the way bishops handled the church's sexual abuse scandal, saying some of them made serious mistakes.
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| An Australian group says the Pope should apologise to abuse victims in Australia. |
Pope Benedict has admitted the bishops had "a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal".
But Care Leavers Australia Network president Leonie Sheedy says the same things happened in Australia.
"I'd like the Pope to acknowledge what happened to us in the Catholic institutions in Australia," she said.
"We suffered emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse."
Irish disappointment
Irish victims of abuse say they are deeply disappointed by the Pope's letter of apology.
A group representing victims says it fails to address the role of senior Church leaders.
"My first response was deep disappointment in the letter," said Maeve Lewis, executive director of victims group One in Four.
"We feel the letter falls far short of addressing the concerns of the victims."
She said the Pope's letter focused too narrowly on lower-rank Irish priests without recognising the responsibility of the Vatican and senior Irish clerics for protecting offenders and dealing with victims.
"There is nothing in this letter to suggest that any new vision of leadership in the Catholic Church exists," she said.
The letter also does not refer to the resignation of the head of the church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, which victims groups have demanded, she said.
Pope Benedict expressed his "shame and remorse" for episodes of child sex abuse, saying "serious mistakes" were made by Irish bishops in responding to allegations.
"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," the Pope said in the letter signed on Friday.
He said priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse "must answer" for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals".
"Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy," he said, addressing himself to offenders.
The Pope announced a mission to Irish dioceses rocked by sex scandals to assist "the local church on her path to renewal" and said he was ready to meet again with victims of child abuse.
Predominantly Catholic Ireland has been shocked by three judicial reports in the past five years that revealed ill-treatment, abuse and cruelty by clerics and a cover-up of their activities by church authorities.
New abuse scandals have also come to light in the Pope's native Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
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