Local clergy abuse victim reacts to Pope’s speech at Vatican Summit

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KGTV

February 24, 2019

By Rina Nakano

A landmark four-day Vatican Summit concluded today in Tome. The Pope addressed the Catholic Church’s long history of child sex abuse and cover-up scandals. He concluded the event with a speech, saying that those guilty of child sex abuse are “tools of Satan.”

While many thought the Pope’s “all-out-battle” to fight sex abuse was refreshing, local survivors hoped to see more.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of San Diego immediately praised the Pope’s transparency, sending 10News this statement:

The summit hosted by Pope Francis accomplished everything we hoped for and more. The Pope and the bishops assembled in Rome endorsed tough policies to promote accountability for bishops and other church authorities and made it very clear that covering up the abuse of minors was every bit as criminal and sinful as the acts of abuse themselves. They heard first-hand from victims and from Pope Francis himself who called for an ‘all-out battle’ to fight sexual abuse.
“We expect additional guidelines to issued by the Vatican in coming days and specific policies and regulations to be voted on by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in June.”

Kevin Eckery, spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of San Diego

But for Paul Livingston, Pope Francis’ words did not fix the damage he said he experienced as a victim of clergy abuse.

“It’s a day late and a dollar short,” Livingston said. “All we wanted was an apology. We didn’t get an apology. We got a ‘That never happened here’.”

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