Church abuse victim to stage protest rally over arrival of pontiff
THE announcement that Pope Francis may not meet victims of Church sexual abuse in Ireland has pushed one victim to organise a demonstration during his visit to Dublin.
Colm O’Gorman said: “It is staggering on the part of the Vatican, they can’t even be bothered to go through the motions of making it appear that this matters to them.
“It’s become a trope, he (Frnacis) goes to a country and has a confidential meeting and releases a statement about how moved he was by victim testimony, expresses sorrow and regret and we move on. I’m not sure that meeting would’ve had any value anyway, but the idea that it’s an afterthought, it’s unacceptable.”
Mr O’Gorman was repeatedly raped by a priest in Co Wexford for three years, beginning a year after Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979, when he was 13.
He said: “When I heard Pope John Paul’s quote: ‘Young people of Ireland, I love you’, it sickened me, he didn’t. It’s important that all that has happened here over
Facing trial: Cardinal George Pell
decades isn’t just swept aside of convenience of the Vatican.
“I respect people’s desire to have faith, I would never deny people their opportunity to profess their faith, but it cannot be at the cost of people all over the country struggling with the hurt and trauma the Church caused.”
The event, in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance on Sunday, August 26 at 3pm, invites anyone hurt by the Church, and those who support them, to attend.
“The response I have had has been extraordinary; so many people have come to me to tell me their stories, they need a space to name the fact,” Mr O’Gorman added.
“I’m being contacted by people who have never spoken out, and the visit is really affecting them. They are feeling silenced again by the hype of this whole visit.
“I know people who couldn’t cope, who couldn’t survive, and ended their life because of their abuse, I knew I had to do something.”
Mr O’Gorman pointed to Pope Francis’s appointment of Australia’s Cardinal George Pell to a powerful position in the Vatican and the Pontiff ’s recent comments on abuse in Chile.
Cardinal Pell i s the highest-ranking Catholic official to have faced trial over historical sexual offence allegations.
Mr O’Gorman said: “His visit to Chile last year unmasked how similar Francis is to other Popes.
“He attacked abuse victims of causing scandal to the Church, and only later apologised due to global outrage.
“This is why those who have the capacity to stand up and speak out, because if we don’t it reinforces their dismissal of the abuse and our experiences,” he said.