Abuse survivor believes quotes attributed to Pope

IRELAND
Irish News

A PROMINENT Irish abuse survivor has said she believes quotes attributed to Pope Francis about the number of paedophile priests in the Church are accurate.

Marie Collins, a member of the Vatican’s new child protection commission, was referring to reported comments by the Pontiff in Italian paper La Repubblica that 2 per cent of Catholic clergy – equivalent to one in 50, or nearly 8,000 in total – were child abusers.

The Vatican has disputed the quotes but Ms Collins said she believed the Pope was responsible for the remarks and she could “see a shift” in the Church’s approach to the issue under Francis’s leadership.

Pope Francis reportedly told veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari that child abusers within the ranks of the clergy included “priests, and even bishops and cardinals”.

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