Pope Francis meets with clergy sex abuse victims in Portugal – Response from Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, BishopAccountability.org 

When Pope Francis travels to a country where the clergy sex abuse crisis has erupted, he meets with victims, expresses shame and sorrow, and promises change. He did this during his 2015 visit to the United States, his visit to Chile in January 2018, his visit to Ireland in August 2018, and his visit to Canada in 2022. 

But when the Pope visits a country where the bishops are not reckoning with headlines about abuse, he does not meet with victims. He did not hold such meetings in Hungary, the Congo, Romania, or Panama, even though the church’s victims in each of those countries surely also number in the thousands.  

The Pope’s meetings with victims are about public relations, not change. And at this point in his papacy, the tactic is not…