PENNSYLVANIA
New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and DANIEL J. WAKIN
SEPT. 27, 2015
PHILADELPHIA — Speaking to hundreds of bishops and seminarians, Pope Francis on Sunday said he met in private with a group of victims of sexual abuse and he pledged that “all responsible will be held accountable.”
“God weeps,” he said.
The pope, speaking on the last day of his trip to the United States, delivered his words before his prepared speech. He said abuse survivors “have become true heralds of mercy. Humbly, we owe each of them our gratitude for their value as they have had to suffer terrible abuse.”
His first reference to the scandal, at a prayer service with bishops in Washington on Wednesday, drew criticism from advocates for survivors of abuse for not going far enough. He told the bishops he was “conscious of courage with which you have faced difficult moments in the recent history of the Church in this country without fear of self-criticism and at the cost of mortification and great sacrifice.”
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