Pope Francis holds his first meeting with clergy sex abuse survivors

By Michelle Boorstein
WashingtPost
July 7, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2014/07/07/pope-francis-holds-his-first-meeting-with-clergy-sex-abuse-survivors/

Pope Francis Francis delivers a speech in Isernia, southern Italy, on July 5, 2014 as part of a one day visit in the Molise region.

Pope Francis met for the first time Monday with people sexually abused by priests, reportedly saying Mass with six survivors and then meeting privately with each for half an hour.

Immediate details were scarce, as representatives of the survivors and the Vatican said they’d not discuss the meeting until afterwards. Even the names of the survivors were not released; two each came from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany.

Vatican blogger Rocco Palmo reported that half were men and half were women. Reuters reported that the meeting was at the pope’s Vatican residence.

In April, Francis asked for forgiveness for “the damage” done by clergy abusers and created a commission, half of whose named members are women. One of the women is a survivor.

But survivors and their advocates – particularly in Argentina – have been critical of the pope, saying he never met with victims in his many years as a church leader there and didn’t comply with the Vatican’s demand that countries create guidelines for handling sex-abuse allegations.

No Argentine survivors were included in Monday’s meeting. It wasn’t clear how people were picked to attend.

“This hurts because you should know of cases that happened here, and why many victims are struggling for years; plus new cases are coming to light,” said a translation of a letter written to the pope and released Monday by four Argentine survivors.