Pope begs for forgivenessDaily in child sex abuse scandal
POPE Francis yesterday begged for forgiveness after the “betrayal” of the Catholic Church child abuse scandal.
The 81-year-old Pontiff renewed calls for justice during the second day of his visit to Ireland.
A litany of sex crimes committed by Catholic clerics has cast a shadow over the first papal visit to the island since 1979.
Speaking at a shrine in Knock, Co Mayo, he said: “None of us can fail to be moved by the stories of young people who suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence and left scarred, distanced from mothers, abandoned, and left with painful memories.
“I beg the Lord’s forgiveness for these sins and for the scandal and betrayal felt by so many others in God’s family.”
In an intimate meeting with representatives of the victims on Saturday night, Pope Francis reportedly used a Spanish word meaning excrement to refer to those who covered up abuse.
Battling
Despite the Pope’s efforts to smooth over relations with victims and campaigners in recent months, thousands gathered to protest just miles from Phoenix Park, Dublin, where he celebrated mass with 100,000 worshippers battling the wind and rain.
At the Stand4Truth rally, singer Brian Kennedy performed John Lennon’s Imagine with a new verse, which began: “Imagine there’s no paedophiles, I wonder if you can.”
At the same time, hundreds of people taking part in a vigil at Tuam, Co Galway, called for the remains of “hundreds of babies” to be exhumed from a local site. In 2013 local historian Catherine Corless discovered official records showing that about 800 children died at a mother-andbaby home there.
Ms Corless, who attended the vigil with her husband Aidan and carried a small makeshift coffin to the site, said: “It’s important that we give them a funeral to let the babies know we are still here, as I believe their spirits are here and they are calling out to us.”