DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times
August 25, 2018
By Simon Carswell
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/victims-group-calls-on-pope-to-name-clerical-sex-abusers-1.3606741
End Clergy Abuse group wants zero tolerance of sex abuse under church law
Clerical sex abuse is “a global problem” requiring “a global solution”, a worldwide group of abuse victims meeting in Dublin has said. End Clergy Abuse, which represents clerical abuse survivors and activists, called on Pope Francis to follow the example of survivors who have come forward and take action to name clerical sex abusers and hold bishops who covered it up to account.
The group wants the pope to bring zero tolerance of clerical sex abuse into force under church law, remove from office bishops who covered up sex crimes by clergy, and publish a global registry of confirmed clerical abusers held by the Vatican.
“The time of words should be over and the time of action should start now,” Matthias Katsch, an abuse survivor from Germany, told a press conference on the eve of the pope’s arrival in Ireland for a 36-hour visit, the first by a pontiff since 1979.
Clerical abuse victims and campaigners from Ireland, the UK, Belgium and the US came together in Dublin for only the second meeting of global campaigners. They spoke to reporters near the Catholic Church’s World Meeting of Families at the RDS where they were earlier invited to listen to a panel discussion on “Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults” and the Vatican’s response to the latest allegations of clerical child sex abuse and cover-up by the church.
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