VATICAN CITY
Washington Post
Pope Francis’ meeting with abuse victims wasn’t a PR stunt, Vatican says
By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service July 7
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Monday (July 7) held his first meeting with victims of clergy sex abuse, begging for forgiveness but remaining silent on how he’ll handle bishops who were complicit in covering up for predatory priests.
Francis held a private Mass with three male and three female victims from the U.K., Ireland and Germany before meeting them individually for around 30 minutes. In total, the first-ever meetings spanned more than three hours.
“Before God and his people I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. And I humbly ask forgiveness,” the pope said, according to a Vatican transcript of his morning homily.
Irish survivor Marie Kane, who was among the victims who met with Francis, said later she believed the pope spoke from the heart but warned if the Catholic Church did not change it would “disappear.”
In his homily delivered Monday in his native Spanish, Francis said he felt “deep pain and suffering” for the “despicable actions” of priests and bishops who had abused their vocation and violated their victims. …
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which represents 18,000 members around the world, said far more needed to be done to stop what it called an ongoing crisis in the church.
A Pew Research Center survey released last December showed that 70 percent of U.S. Catholics want the abuse scandal to be a “top priority” for the pope, and the issue ranked as “the most important” problem facing the church. …
Another U.S.-based group, Bishop Accountability.org, said the pope had been “largely silent” on clerical abuse in his native Argentina and he must remove and discipline abusive clerics.
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