PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyVoice
BY DANIEL CRAIG
PhillyVoice Staff
Berks County lawmaker Mark Rozzi, who says he was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest as a child, criticized Pope Francis before his visit to Philadelphia and said the papal weekend brought back painful memories.
In a video from CNN published before the pope’s visit, Democratic Rep. Rozzi calls for Francis to ask Chaput to encourage lawmakers in supporting his bill to change the statute of limitations for cases of sexual abuse.
He says the only way to allow victims to heal is to allow their voices to be heard and criticized a recent comment from the pope in which he said he was sorry how the abuse scandal had weighed upon U.S. bishops. Watch the video here:
Pope Francis did not avoid the issue during his visit to Philadelphia. Speaking before bishops in Wynnewood Sunday, he said “God weeps” for the victims and said he was “deeply sorry” for what had happened, referring to several cases of clergy members sexually abusing young boys.
The pontiff also met with five victims of clergy abuse before giving those remarks.
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.