Pope Francis ‘Begs Forgiveness’ of Victims of Sex Abuse, by Jim Yardley, New York Times (July 7, 2014)

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis held his first meeting with victims of clerical sex abuse on Monday, leading them at a private Mass at a small Vatican chapel where he asked for forgiveness and described the abuse as a “grave sin,” even as some critics criticized the meeting as a publicity stunt.

“Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you,” Francis said during his homily at the Mass, according to a text released by the Vatican. “And I humbly ask forgiveness. I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves.”

Francis met with six victims — two each from Ireland, Britain and Germany — and first greeted them when they arrived at a Vatican guesthouse on Sunday. They reconvened on Monday morning for Mass and then ate breakfast together before the pope held individual meetings with the victims that, in total, lasted more than three hours.

In his homily, Francis vowed “not to tolerate harm done to a minor by any individual, whether a cleric or not,” and declared that bishops would be held accountable for protecting minors. He said the abuse scandals had had “a toxic effect on faith and hope in God.”

At a news conference at midday Monday, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, dismissed the idea that the meeting was about public relations and described the meetings between the victims and the pope as “very intense.”

“This is an important step on a path of healing and reconciliation,” said Father Lombardi, who declined to release the names of the six victims.

Francis has won widespread praise for his humble personal style and his efforts to reform the Vatican bureaucracy, but his handling of the sex abuse issue has brought him some sharp criticism. The fact that he had not met personally with victims during the first 15 months of his papacy – his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI made the gesture several times – was seen as insensitive by critics, especially given the empathetic nature of his papacy.

Nor were some advocates for abuse victims impressed with Monday’s meeting. They argue that the Vatican still has done too little to create a strong, accountable system to prevent abuse and to prevent bishops from protecting abusive priests by reassigning them to other dioceses or by neglecting to report accusations to civil authorities.

“These meetings are public relations coups for the Vatican and distracting placebos for others,” said Mary Caplan, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, an advocacy group, in a statement. “They provide temporary but false hope.”

In recent months, the Vatican has faced criticism over its handling of clerical sex abuse from two United Nations committees. Most recently, in May, the United Nations Committee Against Torture called on Vatican officials to take more effective steps to prevent abuse, amid reports that church officials in some dioceses still refuse to report cases to local police.

But Vatican officials say many of the concerns raised by the U.N. committees were outdated and point to several changes made under Francis. He has appointed a special commission to address the abuse issue and included a prominent Irish abuse-victim-turned-advocate among the members. Last month, the Vatican defrocked its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic after he was accused of abusing boys. The former archbishop, Jozef Wesolowski, 65, has two months to appeal the decision.

Francis made public his decision to meet with abuse victims while returning from his May trip to the Holy Land. Then, he referred to the abuse of minors as “very ugly” and a “serious” crime that he compared to sacrilege.

Francis’s strong words in May came after he drew criticism two months earlier by arguing that the Roman Catholic Church had confronted the crisis with greater “transparency and responsibility” than other public institutions yet had borne the brunt of attacks from advocates.

Some victims’ advocates had dismissed these remarks as insensitive and “triumphalist.”

On Sunday, Francis’s special commission to address the crisis held its second meeting, mostly to discuss the appointment of new members, possibly from Africa, Asia and elsewhere. In his Monday homily, Francis called on his commission “to develop better policies and procedures” to protect minors and to train church personnel. “We need to do everything in our power to ensure that these sins have no place in the church,” he said.