ST. LOUIS (MI)
KSDK

August 20, 2018

By Rachel Menitoff

“What I’ve seen after three decades, is pope after pope after pope saying more sympathetic words about victims and expressing more remorse for the abuse, but never announcing real concrete steps to prevent this from happening.”

Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics around the world Monday condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.

David Clohessy has been the voice of countless victims of sexual abuse linked to the Catholic Church. After Monday’s message from the pope, he decided to share his personal story for the first time, and reveal how he felt about the pope’s message.

“I’ll bet you there was a tennis picture in here,” said Clohessy as he flipped through…