Pope Francis held his first meeting with victims of clerical sex abuse on Sunday, pledging that Catholic bishops "will be held accountable" for failing to protect children, CNN reported, in his strongest acknowledgement yet of the scandals that have rocked Catholicism for more than a decade.
In a sermon given during a private Mass with six victims of church sexual abuse at his residence in the Domus Santa Marta, Francis apologized for the abuse and asked for forgiveness, reprimanding Vatican officials for being reluctant to take action against bishops accused of concealing abuse. "I beg your forgiveness 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," Francis said in the homily, according to a text of the statement provided by the Vatican on Monday. "This led to even greater suffering on the part of those who were abused and it endangered other minors who were at risk," he said.
"I commit myself not to tolerate harm done to a minor by any individual, whether a cleric or not," the pontiff said. "I feel the gaze of Jesus, and I ask for the grace to weep, the grace for the church to weep and make reparation for her sons and daughters who betrayed their mission, who abused innocent persons."
Francis also spoke of the particular pain suffered by people abused by clergy, how the abuse can lead people into difficulty with relationships and sometimes addiction and even suicide, Washington Post reported. Priests who abuse children are like members "of a sacrilegious cult," he said.
Monday's meeting, which was the first of Francis' papacy, had three men and three women from Britain, Ireland and Germany meet him privately at Casa Santa Marca, the hotel on Vatican grounds where he resides, for about 30 minutes, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters.
The victims emerged from the meeting moved by what he described as a "profound spiritual encounter and dialogue," he said. "If you had seen the people coming out of the meeting, it would have been totally, absolutely clear that it was not a publicity stunt," Lombardi said, reacting to a statement last month by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims advocacy group, calling the meeting "self-serving. "The most important thing the Pope hopes to come out of this occasion, is that the victims themselves felt welcomed and listened to."
Victim groups, however, have criticized the pope for waiting 16 months after his election to hold a meeting, and branded the move to be a publicity stunt. "Over the past 2,000 years, two popes have met with about two dozen clergy sex abuse victims. Very little has changed," Mary Caplan, a leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said. "A dozen popes could meet with 100 victims, and very little will change. These meetings are public relations coups for the Vatican and a distracting placebo for others."
Church prosecutors handled 3,420 abuse cases over the past decade, officials told the Committee against Torture in March, with 848 priests losing their clerical status and 2,572 ordered to live a life of prayer and penance, according to Boston Globe. But the identities of those currently being investigated or priests defrocked have not been released.
