VATICAN CITY
Crux
Inés San Martín February 13, 2017
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
ROME- As the Catholic church in Australia struggles with fresh revelations that some 4,400 people have reported being sexually abused in more than 1,000 Catholic institutions, a new book by a religious sexual abuse survivor with a preface by Pope Francis was revealed on Monday, in which the pontiff calls sexual abuse an “absolute monstrosity, a horrible sin.”
“For those who have been victims of a pedophile, it is difficult to talk about what they have been through and describe the trauma that persists still, after many years,” Francis wrote. “For this reason, Daniel Pittet’s testimony is necessary, treasured and courageous.”
The pope is talking about a 57-year old Swiss man, who was first abused at the age of eight by a Capuchin brother, who would continue molesting him for four years.
As Francis writes in the preface to I forgive you, Father, to be released in Italian later this month, he met Pittet in the Vatican back in 2015 during the Year for Consecrated Life. The pope’s words were released in full on Monday by the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
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