Francis to meet survivors of clerical sexual abuse
POPE Francis will meet representatives of survivors of clerical sexual abuse and former residents of religious-run institutions when he visits Ireland in August, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has confirmed.
The official itinerary of the Pope’s two-day visit to Ireland was unveiled in Maynooth yesterday by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, president of the ninth World Meeting of Families, and Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, who is president of the Irish bishops’ conference.
However, the packed two-day schedule makes no mention in its official itinerary of a meeting between the pontiff and abuse survivors.
Asked by the Irish Independent if the Pope would meet abuse survivors, Dr Diarmuid Martin explained that the official itinerary was “the basic outline” of the places the Pope will visit and the meetings he will hold, and that details of other meetings might be added at a later stage.
He highlighted that in the Pope’s journeys to different parts of the world, he has always met with abuse survivors.
“Generally speaking he has met them quietly to respect their anonymity and we will be looking at the way that that can be done,” Dr Martin said.
Acknowledging that the pontiff’s programme “is very tight”, the archbishop revealed that Francis would meet with a number of different groups of survivors while in Ireland including survivors of religious-run institutions, clerical sexual abuse, Magdalene
laundries and mother and baby homes.
“We will find a way in which the Pope will be able to address the concerns of all of those people,” he said.
Requests
He also revealed that he was getting five letters a day from people who want to meet the Pope but that victims and survivors of abuse are “very high on the list of priorities”.
Pope Francis, Dr Martin said, had been and would be briefed about the extent of abuse in Ireland, though he did not know if the Pope would make the issue a focus of a major address while here.
“It is a challenge for all of us in the Irish Church to recognise the way that people have been damaged and the Church has been damaged.”
The Pope is scheduled to visit St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin on the afternoon of Saturday, August 25.
Among the liturgical items he will view is a candle that has burned in the church for years as a reminder to people of the suffering of abuse survivors.