UNITED STATES
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Pope Francis met for the first time last week with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy. He conducted a private Mass with six victims — two each from Ireland, Britain and Germany — at his Vatican residence. He also spent several hours listening to their accounts, one on one.
We pray that the time spent with the victims gives the pope added strength to heal this deep wound in the Catholic Church.
To his credit, the pope went further than any of his predecessors in promising to hold bishops accountable for their failure to protect children from abusive priests. This is a dramatic change from the church’s stance on accountability just a few months ago. We just hope it is followed up with decisive action.
The pope’s meeting with victims happened after the church came under harsh criticism in two recent United Nations reports. In February the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded that the Vatican had placed its interests over those of victims by enabling priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children under the protection of a clerical code of silence.
In May, the U.N. Committee Against Torture concluded that Vatican officials had failed to report sex abuse charges properly, transferred priests rather than disciplining them and failed to pay adequate compensation to victims. That report found that the Vatican, despite its claims to the contrary, exercises worldwide control over its bishops and priests and must comply with the U.N.’s anti-torture treaty.
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