‘Meeting abuse survivors is not enough’
THE Vatican finally confirmed that Pope Francis would meet clerical sex abuse victims when he visits Ireland.
However, it will not reveal any details of the meetings in advance. It will be up to the victims to speak publicly about the discussions if they wish.
Protesters have arranged a series of rallies coinciding with the pontiff ’s trip to highlight what they believe has been the Church’s failure to properly address wrong-doing.
The Government will host a special reception for the Pope in Dublin Castle this weekend but Taoiseach Leo Varadkar would not specify what subjects he intended to raise during their meeting.
However, he said he had spent the last few days reflecting on the stories of clerical abuse, which will loom large over the visit.
Mr Varadkar said Church leaders should look to replicate Irish laws on the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse.
Welcoming the letter in which Pope Francis acknowledged the failings of the Church, Mr Varadkar said it was not enough to merely promise change. He said the Pope, who arrives in Ireland on Saturday, was saying “all the right things” but “words need to be followed by actions”.
“I think that’s what people will want to see in the period ahead in order to restore trust and confidence in the Church,” he said.
He added: “A lot of institution have a dark legacy of treating children, and women and those most vulnerable very badly. It’s not just the Catholic Church, the State doesn’t have a very good record in that regard either.”
He noted that Ireland introduced mandatory reporting last year and has no statute of limitations when it comes to prosecutions for sexual offences.
“While that may not be the law in every country in the world, I think it’s best practice and something that the Church and other institutions might consider implementing.
“Just because it’s not the law doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do,” the Taoiseach said.
Meanwhile, clerical sex abuse survivor Colm O’Gorman described the clandestine meeting with the Pope and survivors as a “circus”.
“It’s just obscene,” he told the
Irish Independent last night. The founder of the One in Four abuse survivors’ group said he feared the Vatican would try to stage-manage a meeting of survivors as a publicity stunt aimed at sanitising the Church’s murky record on child sex abuse.
Mr Gorman claimed this was what was happening now: “I remember saying a few weeks ago that he needs not to do that.
“They have these private, confidential meetings [with survivors] and someone will say afterwards how the Pope wept with them.
“I understand the value of a pastoral meeting but the Pope has a responsibility to address this in a meaningful way,” he said.
“It shouldn’t have to be confidential and be done in a clock-and-dagger way. It’s offensive and really disrespectful.”
Mr O’Gorman also questioned whether the meeting would include other survivors of clerical abuse, including people who were physically, mentally and sexually abused by the clergy, nuns and other Church officials in Church-run institutions.
“What about the victims of depraved institutional abuse? What about the survivors of the mother and baby homes? What about the survivors of the Magdalene laundries?” he said.
Maeve Lewis, executive director of One in Four, also questioned how genuine the meeting would be.
However, she said she would welcome the meeting as long as the Pope was “in a listening mode”.
“I hope he will make firm commitments over laws and actions,” she said.
“Survivors are tired of apologies.
“People had huge hopes when he was elected but his tenure has been a huge disappointment to survivors.”