Alateia
Fr Dwight Longenecker
This week Pope Francis met privately with victims of priestly sex abuse from Ireland, Britain and Germany. They attended Mass with the pontiff at the chapel at St. Martha’s Guesthouse, shared a meal and then met privately to tell their stories. Their meeting took place after the second gathering of a special commission the pope has established to address the problem of sex abuse by priests.
The sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests has been a horrible crime against young people, and Pope Francis is right to liken it to a “sacrilegious cult.” As Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did, Pope Francis shared their struggles and asked forgiveness. Expressing the feelings of most Catholics, Pope Francis said, “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.”
Predictably, the critics of the Catholic Church are unsatisfied, Barbara Blaine, the president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) dismissed the importance of Francis’ meeting. The Pope’s apology was not enough. Blaine demanded, “Francis must take decisive action right now” to address the scandal more directly. She dismissed the Pope’s call for reparations and said “stopping abuse and protecting children comes first…no child on earth is safer today because of this meeting.
With or without church officials, abuse victims can heal themselves. But only with church officials’ help can children protect themselves from child molesting clerics. That’s where the Pope must focus. And that’s where he’s refusing to act.”
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