VATICAN CITY
The Journal News
[with video]
Eric J. Lyman, Special for USA TODAY 8:41 a.m. EDT July 7, 2014
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis met and prayed with six European victims of pedophile priests for the first time Monday, in what is being cast as a gesture designed to help change the mentality toward sexual abuse scandals that have severely tarnished the church’s image.
The encounter with victims from Britain, Ireland and Germany was low key. The victims met the pope briefly Sunday night, according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, and then joined him for a private Mass on Monday morning. After that, he met with each in his private apartment for about 30 minutes of informal discussions about their individual experiences.
The Vatican did not release the names of the victims, and none attended Lombardi’s briefing to the media. However, the Vatican quoted Francis as expressing “sorrow” for the “sins and grave crimes” of the clerical abuse against them.
“I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately” to reports of sex abuse, the pope said.
The meetings are significant because it is the first time Francis — at least officially — has met with the victims of clerical sex abuse. It is also the first time such victims have met with a pontiff on the Vatican grounds.
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.