Archbishop ‘deeply ashamed’ of child abuse

● Mario Conti expresses ‘sorrow’ and asks survivors to forgive alleged abusers

The former bishop of Aberdeen has said he is “embarrassed” by comments he made 20 years ago about child abuse survivors being motivated by a “pot of gold”.

Archbishop Mario Conti was appearing before the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry which is currently hearing evidence of alleged abuse at institutions run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

Archbishop con ti ,84, said he had previously allowed himself to be “blindly satisfied” that everything was fine at Nazareth House in Aberdeen. He said the Sisters of Nazareth had exercised a degree of autonomy, meaning the home was not routinely inspected by the Catholic Church.

He told the inquiry he was “taken aback” when visited by officers from Grampian Police in the late 1990s investigating allegations of abuse.

The inquiry was shown a BBC Frontline Scotland documentary from 1998 which Archbishop Conti admitted he had only seen within the past month, despite being interviewed for the programme.

The documentary heard from former residents of four Scottish children’s homes run by the Sisters of Naza- reth who said they had been beaten, force-fed and humiliated for wetting the bed. There were also allegations of sexual abuse.

Appearing in the programme, the then Bishop Conti said he believed the claims were being motivated by lawyers “dangling a pot of gold”, a reference to civil actions being brought against the Sisters of Nazareth.

Asked about the comment after the screening had finished, Archbishop Conti said: “I was embarrassed when I saw that.”

The inquiry also heard that during his time as bishop, he had written a letter to the mother superior of the religious order in which he described the abuse survivors as “the opposition”.

He said it had been “entirely appropriate” to use that sort of language to “persuade and identify” with the person he was writing to as he attempted to organise a reconciliation between the two sides.

Archbishop Conti told the inquiry he believed those appearing in the documentary to be “credible”, but he said some of the allegations about Nazareth House remained “fantastical”.

Asked about his opinion of the abuse now, he said: “I am deeply ashamed and I express my pain and sorrow to those that have been abused.”

He added: “I hope they find it in their hearts to forgive their abusers and forgive me if they thought I was insensitive to their suffering.”

The inquiry continues.

Since it began taking evidence in public last year, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has heard allegations of systematic beatings, force-feeding and humiliation at a number of institutions across the country.

Yesterday it was the turn of Archbishop Mario Conti, the former Roman Catholic bishop of Aberdeen, to give evidence.

The archbishop watched alongside survivors as a 1998 BBC documentary was shown about alleged abuse in children’s homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

Appearing in the documentary, the then bishop questioned the motivations of those coming forward, saying at least some were being encouraged by lawyers “dangling a pot of gold”.

In the 20 years since the documentary was aired, the understanding of the scale of abuse that took place in Scotland’s institutions has only gradually become known.

Archbishop Conti said he was now embarrassed by the comments he made in the programme, expressing his “pain and sorrow” at what had happened in the past.

But there are many, many survivors for whom words are not enough – they want to see justice for what they were forced to endure.

Last week the Scottish Government confirmed it had accepted a request from judge Lady Smith to extend the abuse inquiry indefinitely to allow more survivors to come forward and give their testimony.

Lady Smith, who has led the inquiry since the resignation of its former chair in July 2016, wrote to Deputy First Minister John Swinney this month informing him there was “no prospect” of a final report being ready by the end of next year, as was previously planned.

It now means the inquiry, which has cost £13.9 million to date, will report “as soon as reasonably practicable”.

The request for an extension is entirely understandable given the amount of work the inquiry team still has to do and the amount of evidence still to be heard.

More than 70 institutions, including boarding schools and children’s homes run by religious organisations, are being investigated, with the incredibly broad time-frame of “within living memory” to the end of 2014 being used.

Indeed, evidence relating to just one institution – Smyllum Park in Lanark – took a number of weeks to be heard this year.

While it is vitally important that all those who wish to gave a statement to the inquiry are able to do so, its work cannot be allowed to drag on.

When restricting the remit of the inquiry to those who were abused in residential care rather than all abuse survivors, the Scottish Government argued that a wider remit would see the inquiry taking “many more years to conclude”, letting down those who have waited decades for justice.

That sentiment remains – the inquiry has to get it right, but with many of the survivors now in old age, it must finish its work without unnecessary delay.

Nor should the Scottish Government allow the extension of the inquiry to delay a decision on redress for victims.

The public hearings have already heard written testimonies read out from those who did not live long enough to see justice.

For those that remain, the Scottish Government must agree on a form of redress which will go some way to recognising the horrors of the past.