SOUTH AFRICA
South African Bishops’ Conference

The film Spotlight chronicles the story of how investigative journalists revealed a dark and shameful time in the history of the Catholic Church. The revelations were made in Boston, USA, but it soon became evident that this was a worldwide scandal for the Catholic Church.

The release of the film in South Africa can be an especially painful time for survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. The Church continues to seek forgiveness for the harm that the crime of the abuse of minors has caused.

Although painful, the Church acknowledges the role that journalists and victims played in helping to uncover paedophile clergy. Some victims suffered even more when families, society, authorities and leaders in the Church did not believe their stories. Openness and transparency is the only way that the evil of abuse can be confronted and dealt with. Sexual abuse must…