Pope reveals meeting Irish abuse survivors was ‘one of the most heated situations’

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Extra.ie [Dublin, Ireland]

December 4, 2022

By Lisa ODonnell

The Pope has revealed that his meeting with survivors of clerical abuse during his visit to Ireland in 2018 was ‘one of the most heated situations’ he has ever faced.

During his visit to the Papal Nuncio residence on Dublin’s Navan Road, Pope Francis met with survivors of clerical sex abuse and those who spent time in industrial schools and mother-and-baby homes.

The Pope has revealed that his meeting with survivors of clerical abuse during his visit to Ireland in 2018 was ‘one of the most heated situations’ he has ever faced.

During his visit to the Papal Nuncio residence on Dublin’s Navan Road, Pope Francis met with survivors of clerical sex abuse and those who spent time in industrial schools and mother-and-baby homes.

In an interview with US media in recent days, Pope Francis was challenged on what moves the Vatican is taking to improve its transparency in handling abuse cases.

‘The Church takes responsibility for its own sin, and we go forward, sinners, trusting in the mercy of God. When I travel, I generally receive a delegation of victims of abuse,’ he said.

‘An anecdote about this: When I was in Ireland, people who had been abused asked for an audience. There were six or seven of them. At the beginning, they were a little angry, and they were right. I said to them: “Look, let us do something. Tomorrow, I have to give a homily; why don’t we prepare it together, about this problem?”‘

Pope Francis continued: ‘And that gave rise to a beautiful phenomenon because what had started as a protest was transformed into something positive and, together, we all created the homily for the next day.

‘That was a positive thing in Ireland, one of the most heated situations I have had to face. What should the Church do, then? Keep moving forward with seriousness and with shame.’Advertisement0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%

During his latest interview, the pontiff acknowledged that ‘the Church acted by moving an abuser from his place, covering up’, and described child abuse as ‘monstrous’.

He said: ‘When I held the meeting of the presidents of the bishops’ conferences three-and-a-half years ago, I asked for official statistics and I learned that 42% to 46% of abuses occur in the family home or in the neighbourhood.

‘After that in prevalence comes the world of sport, then that of education, and 3% [of abusers] are Catholic priests. One could say, “That is good, we are few.” No!

If there had been only one case, it would have been monstrous.’

People who witnessed Pope Francis’s meeting with survivors in Dublin said he referred to those who cover up child abuse in the Catholic Church as ‘caca’ – a Spanish word which the official translator interpreted as ‘filth you would see in the toilet’.

During the hour-and-a-half-long meeting with eight survivors, the Pope was asked to use his influence to get the religious orders that ran the mother and baby homes to ‘acknowledge their actions and issue an open and unqualified apology’ to mothers and their children.

The victims also handed over a letter to the Pope, written in both English and Spanish, telling him that an estimated 100,000 mothers were forcibly separated from their babies in Ireland.

The letter outlined that these mothers were told it was a ‘mortal sin’ for them to try and contact their children.

‘As an act of healing, Pope Francis, we ask you to make it clear to the elderly and dying community of natural mothers and adoptees, that there was no sin in the reunion,’ it read.

It also criticised the orders of Irish nuns who ran Ireland’s ‘notorious mother and baby homes where more than 6,000 babies and children died, as well as young mothers’.

In the interview, Pope Francis also responded to criticism of his seeming unwillingness to criticise Russia directly for its invasion of Ukraine.

‘Generally, the cruellest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on. Certainly, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear,’ he said.

‘Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname.’

https://extra.ie/2022/12/04/news/pope-meeting-irish-abuse-survivors