ROME
Telegraph (UK)
By Nick Squires, Rome 06 Feb 2014
A woman whose three-year-old son was taken from her by the Catholic Church more than 60 years ago has called on the Vatican to open up its files on the policy of forced adoptions.
Philomena Lee’s tragic story inspired the film Philomena, which stars Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, who wrote the screenplay.
Mrs Lee, now 80, who met Pope Francis on Wednesday at an audience in St Peter’s Square, was 18 and unmarried when she fell pregnant in Ireland in 1952.
Like tens of thousands of other Irish women, she was told her pregnancy out of wedlock was a sin and was shamed into giving up her child for adoption.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.