Pope Francis blasts scandal of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the nation’s Catholic hierarchy for his or her response to the long-ignored scandal, which he stated had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the trustworthy away.

Francis dove head-on into the disaster roiling the Portuguese church on the primary day of a five-day go to to Lisbon for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day pageant. His journey comes at a fragile second for the Portuguese church; a panel of specialists employed by Portugal’s bishops reported in February that monks and different church personnel could have abuse a minimum of 4,815 boys and women since 1950.

The Vatican stated Francis met with 13 abuse victims for greater than an hour on the Vatican Embassy and characterised the pope’s position in the assembly as one of “intense listening.” The victims have been accompanied by church personnel in cost of baby safety applications.

The encounter, which had been anticipated since Francis met with survivors on earlier journeys overseas, was aimed toward attempting to assist the Portuguese hierarchy and trustworthy come to phrases with the church’s personal legacy of abuse and cover-up after many different European international locations have gone by way of comparable reckonings.

The response by Portugal’s bishops to the professional report’s findings, nonetheless, in some methods added to the issue. Prior to the report, Portuguese church officers had insisted there have been solely a handful of baby sex abuse instances. After the doc’s launch, the bishops initially refused to take away named abusers from ministry and stated they’d solely compensate victims if courts ordered them to.

The assembly with victims occurred after Francis presided over a vigil service for Portuguese clergy and nuns on the capital’s iconic Jeronimos Monastery, the place in February lots of of folks gathered to courageous for victims of sex abuse after the specialists’ report was launched.

Speaking in his native Spanish, Francis acknowledged many clergy and nuns in international locations with once-thriving Catholic parishes really feel weary about their vocations as a result of the trustworthy are more and more indifferent from their religion.

“It is often accentuated by the disappointment and anger with which some people view the church, at times due to our poor witness and the scandals that have marred her face and call us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to,” he stated.

Bishop Jose Ornelas, the pinnacle of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, promised in a speech to Francis to commit “our special attention to the protection of the welfare of children and the undertaking to protect them from all kinds of abuse.”

Although critics have chided church officers for his or her sluggish response, the bishops’ convention later stated the pope’s assembly with abuse survivors was proof of “the path of reconciliation that the Portuguese church has been following in this area.”

Portugal’s bishops are dedicated to “putting the victims first,” and “working together” with victims on reparations and their restoration, a convention assertion asserted.

The Portuguese Catholic Church additionally promised in March to construct a memorial to victims that will be unveiled throughout World Youth Day, however organizers scrapped the plan a couple of weeks in the past.

In its place, victims’ advocates launched a marketing campaign referred to as “This is our memorial.” Hours earlier than the pope arrived, they put up a billboard in central Lisbon studying “4,800+ Children Abused by the Catholic Church in Portugal.” They stated it was paid for by way of a crowdfunding marketing campaign that was so profitable the organizers can put up extra billboards across the metropolis, although none was positioned alongside deliberate routes for his go to.

Reaction to Francis’ feedback on abuse have been blended: Some pilgrims exterior the Jeronimos Monastery stated the World Youth Day gathering wasn’t the time or place to boost the problem.

Giovanni, a 47-year-old pilgrim from Italy who declined to provide his final title, stated it was clear that individuals who come from around the globe to attend the occasion “don’t like bad things. We definitely hope whatever is clear that is wrong will be stopped and canceled.”

But he famous that the pope had requested forgiveness for the church’s legacy of baby sex abuse “and it also shows his commitment to solve this issue as well.”

Francis got here to Lisbon to take part in his fourth World Youth Day, the raucous Catholic jamboree launched by St. John Paul II in the 1980s to invigorate the following technology of Catholics in their religion. More than 1 million younger folks from around the globe have been anticipated to attend the occasions in Lisbon, which run by way of Sunday.

As he was touring to Portugal, the pope stated he would proceed urging younger folks to “make a mess” — a reference to his now-famous exhortation throughout his first World Youth Day as pontiff, in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. It was a name for younger folks to shake issues up in their parishes and has come to represent Francis’ own revolutionary reforms that have shaken up the Catholic Church at large.

Francis’ first stop in Portugal was at the Belem National Palace, the official presidential residence in an area west of Lisbon from where Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries set sail. Addressing Portuguese government authorities and the diplomatic corps at a nearby conference center, the pope referred to Portugal’s sea-faring history, its place in Europe and its openness to others.

“We are sailing amid storms on the ocean of history, and we sense the need for courageous courses of peace,” he said. “It is my hope that World Youth Day will be, for the ‘Old Continent,’ the aged continent, an impulse towards universal openness.”

Citing Russia’s war in Ukraine, global warming and Europe’s aging population, he urged young people in particular to take up the mantle to build a future together.

“I dream of a Europe, the heart of the West, which employs its immense talents to settling conflicts and lighting lamps of hope,” Francis said.

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