Pope apologises to abuse survivors for ‘irreparable damage’ suffered
POPE Francis met with survivors of priests who sexually abused them, wept with them and apologised for the “irreparable damage” they suffered, his spokesman said.
The pontiff also acknowledged the “pain” of priests who have been held collectively responsible for the crimes of a few, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said, during the Pope’s first visit to Chile.
Pope Francis took up the issue of Chile’s sex abuse scandal on his first full day in Santiago that came amid unprecedented opposition to his visit. Three more churches were torched overnight, including one burned to the ground in the southern Araucania region where the Pope was due to celebrate Mass yesterday.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up an anti-Pope protest outside the pontiff’s big open-air Mass in the capital, Santiago.
Despite the incidents, huge numbers of Chileans turned out to see the Pope, including an estimated 400,000 for his Mass.
But his meeting with abuse survivors and comments were what many Chileans, incensed by years of abuse scandal and cover-up, were waiting for.
Mr Burke said the Pope met with a small group of abuse victims after lunch, listening to their stories and praying with them. The spokesman gave no details, other than to say the Pope “listened to them, prayed with them and wept with them.”
Earlier in the day, the Pope told Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, politicians, judges and other authorities that he felt “bound to express my pain and shame” that some of Chile’s clergy had sexually abused children in their care.