POPE FRANCIS has begged forgiveness from survivors who suffered
sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests. He also asked
for forgiveness for the Roman Catholic Church's complicity in
covering up sex abuse.
In a strongly worded homily during a mass, he said: "Before God
and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes
of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. And I humbly ask
forgiveness.
"I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the
part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of
abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims
themselves." Bishops who had allowed their priests to molest
children and minors would be held accountable.
After the mass, he held private meetings with survivors of child
sex abuse by RC priests - two from the UK, two from Germany, and
two from Ireland. He spent half an hour with each victim, talking
about the "lifelong scars" left by the "execrable acts of
abuse".
Some survivors of sex abuse at the hands of RC priests, however,
branded the meetings a public-relations exercise, accusing Pope
Francis of staying silent on the issue when he was Archbishop of
Buenos Aires. One of the survivors choseto go public after her
meeting with the Pope. "The Church needs to change," Marie Kane,
aged 43,who was abused by a priest near Dublin from the age of 15,
told Irish radio.
Pope Francis said that earlier in the year he had set up a
committee - which includes an abuse survivor - to develop "better
policies and procedures" for the protection of children from
abusive clergy.