Pope Francis tackles child abuse as crowds flock for Chilean visit
Pope Francis has opened his visit to Chile by diving head first into a scandal that has greatly hurt the Catholic Church’s credibility in the South American country and cast a cloud over his visit.
The head of the Catholic Church begged for forgiveness for the “irreparable damage” done to children who were raped and molested by priests.
Pope Francis also faced controversy on another front.
Three more Catholic churches were torched overnight – two in the southern Araucania region that Pope Francis will visit today to meet with Chile’s indigenous peoples.
While not causing any injuries, the nine church fire bombings in the past few days have marked an unprecedented level of protest against the first Latin American Pope on his home turf.
The attacks contrasted to scenes in Santiago where tens of thousands of jubilant Chileans turned out in droves for Pope Francis’s first public Mass.
There was a massive gathering in the capital’s O’higgins Park, where St John Paul celebrated Mass three decades ago.
Before the service began, Pope Francis took a long ride in his popemobile through the grounds to greet well wishers, some of whom had camped out overnight to secure a spot.
Pope Francis also met privately with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and addressed politicians, judges and other authorities at La Moneda palace.
They interrupted him with applause when he said he felt “bound to express my pain and shame” that some of Chile’s pastors had sexually abused children in their care.
“I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again,” he said.
Pope Francis did not refer by name to Chile’s most notorious paedophile priest, the Reverend Fernando Karadima, who was sanctioned in 2011 by the Vatican to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for sexually molesting minors.
Karadima had been a politically connected and powerful priest who ministered to a wealthy Santiago community and produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops.
Victims went public with their accusations in 2010 after complaining for years to church authorities that Karadima would kiss and fondle them when they were teenagers.
Many Chileans are still furious over Pope Francis’s subsequent decision in 2015 to appoint a Karadima protégé as bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Bishop Juan Barros had denied knowing about Karadima’s abuse.