MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB
BOSTON —Some victims of clergy sex abuse feel the Pope’s word fell short.
Pope Francis met with survivors and members related to survivors of clerical sex abuse and has promised to hold accountable those responsible.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi says the three women and two men met with the pope for a half hour at the St. Charles Borromeo seminary Sunday. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, accompanied the group.
Lombardi says the pope prayed with the survivors, listened to their stories and expressed his closeness in their suffering and his “pain and shame” in the case of those abused by priests.
But some survivors believe the Pope is not fully addressing the issue.
“When a child is abused by a priest, it ruins their spirituality,” said Phil Saviano, a victim’s advocate of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Saviano was abused by a priest when he was 12 years old.
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