Pope apologizes for sex abuse by priests

Francis leads Mass for several hundred thousand in Chile.

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Pope Francis on Tuesday opened his weeklong visit to Chile and Peru with a somber apology for sexual abuse by priests, a scandal that has roiled the Catholic Church.

“I cannot help but express the pain and shame, shame that I feel over the irreparable harm caused to children by church ministers,” Francis said at the La Moneda government palace in Santiago,

the capital, ahead of a meet- ing with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

“It is fair to ask for forgive- ness,” he said.

Later, Francis presided

over a Mass with several hundred thousand pilgrims gath- ered under the blazing South- ern Hemisphere summer sun at the capital’s O’Higgins Park.

The sexual abuse crisis has divided the church in Chile. Francis was criticized for appointing a bishop, Juan

Barrios, to head a diocese in southern Chile. Barrios was accused of protecting a mentor, Father Fernando Karadima, whom the Vatican has accused of abusing teenage boys for years. Karadima has denied the allegations and Barrios has said he was unaware of any wrongdoing.

The scandals, however, have eroded many Chileans’ faith in their church. Once a heavily Catholic country, Chile has seen numbers of churchgoers fall, and a recent poll showed only 45 percent of Chileans calling them- selves Catholic.

Francis chose his first pub- lic comments to address the crisis. Victims have sought a meeting with him though none has yet been arranged.

Worshipers waved flags of their home countries in O’Higgins Park. And while Chilean flags dominated, there were many flags from neighboring Argentina, the birthplace of the first pope from the Americas.

The Argentine press has been filled with speculation about why Francis has not made an apostolic visit to his homeland, though he has now made four trips to South America. Some observers have suggested that the pope — well versed in the contentious political scenario of his native country — did not want a papal visit to be dragged into Argentina’s divisive internal politics.

Francis arrived in Chile on Monday evening and will continue to Peru later in the week. He is expected to preach on indigenous rights, environmental destruction in the Amazon and the plight of immigrants.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO / ASSOCIATED PRESS Pope Francis celebrates Mass on Tuesday at O’Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile. Francis, speaking at a government palace, said he felt “pain and shame” for the “irreparable harm caused to children by church ministers.”