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	Pope Meets with Victims of Sexual Abuse by Priests By Barbara Barrett and Lisa Zagaroli Hartford Courant April 18, 2008 http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-pope0418.artapr18,0,3298881.story WASHINGTON — - Pope Benedict XVI spoke Thursday with victims who as trusting children were sexually abused by their priests, an unexpected gathering that was the Roman Catholic Church's most dramatic step yet to acknowledge the harm caused by the clergy. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman, said that Benedict and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley met with a group of five or six clergy sex abuse victims for about 25 minutes, offering them encouragement and hope. The group from O'Malley's archdiocese, viewed as the seat of the scandal, were all adults who had been molested when they were minors. Each spoke privately with the pope. Three of the participants spoke emotionally about the meeting in an interview on CNN, each saying that he or she drew hope and some optimism from it. "I basically told him I was an altar boy in the sacristy praying to God ... and it wasn't just sexual abuse, it was spiritual abuse," Bernie McDaid said. "I told him he had a cancer in his church" that he needed to address. Victim Olan Horne said the meeting was unscripted and that they were allowed to tell the pope anything they wanted. He said he did not think he needed another hollow apology from the church, but that the pope showed sincere regret and offered him hope. "I got up to him, and I burst into tears," said Faith Johnston. "I think my tears alone spoke so much." The pope has not shied away from the issue since he left Rome on his first trip to the United States since ascending to the papacy three years ago. First, en route on the papal plane Tuesday, he acknowledged the scandal as a shameful episode in the church's history in an interview with reporters. Then, in a speech to bishops on Wednesday, he told them to reach out to victims of the "gravely immoral behavior." And on Thursday, as he celebrated Mass for 45,000 people in a baseball stadium turned open-air cathedral, he acknowledged the scandal, as well. The meeting with victims came after that. Victims' advocates called Thursday's meeting and Benedict's comments progress, but they said they fell far short of what the pope must do to address the abuse. "It's easy to give a sermon about this," said Terry McKiernan, the president of BishopAccountability.org of Massachusetts. "It's a little harder to face a victim who's been raped by one of your employees and listen to him and say you're sorry. But the really hard part comes when you start doing something about it." "This is a small, long overdue step forward on a very long road," said Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, Calif., a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "But fundamentally, it won't change things. Kids need action. Catholics deserve action. Action produces reform, and reform, real reform, is sorely needed in the church hierarchy."
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