AP
Pope Francis issued an unprecedented apology on Friday saying he felt
responsible for the child sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the
Catholic Church.
Pope Francis on Friday said he felt responsible for the child sexual
abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, and issued an
unprecedented apology.
“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests,
quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the
priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done
for having sexually abused children,” Francis said.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the International Catholic
Child Bureau (Bice), a non—governmental organization. They were not
included in the prepared draft speech that had been circulated
previously to journalists, and were published later by Vatican Radio.
“The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage
carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward
with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions
that must be imposed,” the pontiff added.
Francis also stressed that children have to be protected against all
forms of violence, including slave labour and enrollment in child
armies, and given the right “to grow up in a family with a father and a
mother.” Starting from Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, the Catholic
Church has taken an increasingly tough line on child abuse. A growing
number of priests accused of molesting children have been defrocked,
while penalties in the Vatican legal code have been stiffened.
Last month, Francis tapped a team of eight prelates and lay experts to
fill the initial positions of a Vatican committee against child abuse.
Irish campaigner Marie Collins, who was molested by a priest as a
teenager, was among them.
Groups like the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) say
such steps do not go far enough. They want Francis to name and shame
bishops who have covered up child molesters in the past, and force them
to report all suspect cases to police.
