VATICAN CITY
Al Jazeera
Pope Francis has begged for forgiveness in his first meeting with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy and gone further than any of his predecessors by vowing to hold bishops accountable for their handling of paedophile priests.
Abuse victims and their advocates have long demanded that higher-ups be made to answer for the decades-long cover-ups of rape and molestation of youngsters in a scandal that has rocked the church and dismayed its worldwide flock of 1.2 billion.
The pope celebrated a private Mass with six victims – two each from Ireland, Britain and Germany – at his Vatican residence on Monday, and spent the rest of the morning listening to their accounts, one-on-one. …
‘Cover-up’
One of the six victims, Marie Kane, 43, who was abused by a priest for three years while a teenager in Ireland, said she asked Francis to remove an Irish cardinal, Sean Brady, from his post because of how he handled abuse allegations.
Kane told the Irish Times newspaper that she told Francis a “cover-up is still happening, and you have the power to make these changes.”
She quoted him as replying, “It was difficult to make these changes.”
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