By Philip Pullella
Vancouver Sun
April 18, 2010
Pope meets abuse victims, promises justice
Pope Benedict, in his first gesture since a new wave of sexual abuse scandals swept over Roman Catholicism, promised on Sunday the Church will do "all in its power" to bring the guilty to justice and protect the young.
A Vatican issued a statement after the pope met privately with eight Maltese victims of sexual abuse in the Vatican's embassy on the last and second day of his trip to Malta.
"He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future," a Vatican statement said.
The statement was one of the clearest yet from the Vatican that it wanted local bishops to cooperate with civil authorities in prosecuting priests who abused children.
The Maltese abuse victims had asked for a meeting with the pope but the Vatican did not confirm it until after it was over.
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| A group of nuns cheer Pope Benedict XVI after a mass on the Granaries in Floriana, outside Valletta |
"He was deeply moved by their stories and expressed his shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have suffered," it added, adding that the pope "prayed that all the victims of abuse would experience healing and reconciliation, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope".
A spokesman said the pope met with them as a group and then spoke to each individually before they prayed together.
The pope's trip to Malta has been overshadowed by the global church sex-abuse crisis. Earlier, at an open-air Mass, he heard the island's leading bishop say the Catholic Church had to be humble enough to recognise its failures.
So far on this trip, his first of five international visits planned for this year, Benedict has made no direct reference in public to the worldwide crisis.
CHURCH WOUNDED BY SIN
Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him to Malta on Saturday, he said Roman Catholicism has been "wounded by our sins" but did not use the word "abuse".
Hundreds of cases of sexual and physical abuse of youths in recent decades by priests have come to light in Europe and the United States as disclosures encourage long-silent victims to finally go public with their complaints.
The pope himself has been accused of turning a blind eye in 1980, when he was archbishop of Munich in his native Germany, to the case of a priest who was sent there for therapy after sexually abusing children and soon transferred to parish work.
The Vatican has said a subordinate was responsible for that decision.
As Benedict was visiting Malta, the Vatican was swept up with another potentially explosive case.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a former Vatican official who congratulated a French bishop for hiding a sexually abusive priest in 2001, told a conference in Spain he acted with the approval of the late Pope John Paul.
Last week the Vatican spokesman indirectly confirmed that a 2001 letter Castrillion Hoyos sent to the bishop posted on a French website was authentic and was proof the Vatican was right to tighten up its procedures on sex abuse cases that year.
But the spokesman said on Saturday night he had no further comment on Castrillon Hoyos's remarks in Spain.
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