LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
January 28, 2019
‘It is terrible, the suffering is terrible. So first, they (the bishops) need to be made aware of this’
The primary goal of the Vatican’s February summit on clerical sexual abuse and child protection is to help bishops understand the urgency of the crisis, Pope Francis said.
During a news conference with journalists on his flight to Rome from Panama on 27 January, the pope said the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences have been called to the 21-24 February meeting at the Vatican to be “made aware of the tragedy” of those abused by members of the clergy.
“I regularly meet with people who have been abused. I remember one person — 40 years old — who was unable to pray,” he said. “It is terrible, the suffering is terrible. So first, they (the bishops) need to be made aware of this.”
The pope’s international Council of Cardinals suggested the summit after realising that some bishops did not know how to address or handle the crisis on their own, he said.
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