In meeting with sex-abuse victims, pope vows change

By Peter Smith
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 28, 2015

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2015/09/28/In-meeting-with-sex-abuse-victims-pope-vows-change/stories/201509280034

Pope Francis speaks Sunday at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia. Speaking to hundreds of bishops and seminarians, Pope Francis said he met in private with a group of victims of sexual abuse and he pledged that “all responsible will be held accountable.” Photo by Eric Thayer

PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis pledged to sexual-abuse survivors Sunday that bishops who fail to protect children from abusive priests, and not just the abusers themselves, “will be held accountable.”

The pontiff did not say what that accountability would entail in his prepared remarks for the private, long-anticipated meeting with five survivors of sexual abuse by priests or family members. He listened to the victims’ stories, prayed with them and pledged “we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead.”

His spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said those details are being worked out but noted that the pope did form a commission to address such cases.

The meeting took place with three women and two men Sunday morning at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 contained explosive revelations of systematic cover-ups of abusive priests by past archbishops and their staffs. A former archdiocesan official is currently incarcerated for his role in the cover-up.

“Words cannot fully express my sorrow for the abuse you suffered,” Pope Francis told the survivors, who were accompanied by relatives or other supporters. “You are precious children of God who should always expect our protection, our care and our love. I am profoundly sorry that your innocence was violated by those who you trusted” including by “priests who carry a sacred responsibility for the care of the soul. The betrayal was a terrible violation of human dignity.”

The pope said he is “deeply sorry for the times when you or your family spoke out, to report the abuse, but you were not heard or believed.”

The survivors, in their willingness to meet with him, reveal “the merciful heart of Christ,” the pontiff added, citing one of the key themes of his papacy: mercy.

“Within our family of faith and our human families, the sins and crimes of sexual abuse of children must no longer be held in secret and shame,” he said.

The pope met with the survivors on the last day of his six-day visit to the United States, shortly before speaking to bishops at the seminary. The anchor event for Pope Francis’ visit is the World Meeting of Families, an international Roman Catholic gathering in Philadelphia.

He reiterated afterward to bishops that he would hold accountable those who fail to protect children and that “God weeps” for the abused.

“You should have seen how truly moved he was,” Bishop Edward Burns of Juneau, Alaska, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said afterward. “It was a come-to-Jesus moment.”

Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said by phone she doesn’t know which people were selected to meet with the pope but that she’s still troubled by Pope Francis’ handling over the issue.

“Words don’t protect children,” Ms. Dorris said. “Actions protect children.”

She has been standing vigil in Philadelphia and holding signs with fellow survivor Becky Ianni during the week to call pilgrims’ attention to the crisis and show solidarity with other victims who may not share in the general euphoria over the papal visit.

Ms. Dorris said bishops who shield abusers should endure church sanctions, not just be able to retire honorably. She noted that even retired Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali and retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony appeared with other bishops at Pope Francis’ public appearances.

In contrast, U.S. church policy is for priests guilty of even a single instance of abuse to be barred from ministry and either be removed from the priesthood or lead a life of private penance and prayer, not presenting themselves publicly as priests.

Cardinal Mahony’s successor did essentially bar him from ministry within that archdiocese, but no one who has enabled abusers to stay in positions of trust has incurred any church penalties from the Vatican.

After Boston Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over his mishandling of sexual abuse in 2002, he assumed the prestigious role of pastor at an ancient basilica in Rome.

Bishop Burns noted that this year, three U.S. bishops resigned as Pope Francis launched a new process to hold such bishops accountable.

Pope Francis, meeting with survivors, added: “May the doors of mercy be opened wide in our dioceses, our parishes, our homes and our hearts to receive those who were abused and to seek the path of forgiveness by trusting in the Lord.”

And he asked the survivors to give the church another chance.

“I humbly beg you and all survivors of abuse to stay with us, to stay with the church, and that together, as pilgrims on the journey of faith, we might find our way to the Father,” he said.

Most or all of the five survivors were from the Philadelphia area, Father Lombardi said.

Pope Francis spoke to the survivors in his native Spanish, with simultaneous English translation.

Earlier in the pontiff’s visit, he told bishops they were doing a good job in overhauling their handling of abuse, and he told priests he sympathized with their having to bear the stigma of shame that abusive priests had brought on all of them.

Some advocates for survivors called such statements tone-deaf and lamented that the pope did not hold the meeting until the final day.

In a news conference later Sunday, Father Lombardi said the timing of the meeting simply fit best in the pope’s packed itinerary.

Bishop Burns noted that church norms require that any allegations of abuse are referred to law enforcement. Many state laws include criminal punishments for at least some categories of adults who fail to report child abuse to authorities. Such laws often have a relatively short statute of limitations, and since many victims often take years before they are psychologically ready to report abuse, even bishops whose failure to report abuse is well documented have escaped prosecution.

Also at the pope’s meeting with survivors were Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who chairs a commission set up by Pope Francis for the protection of minors; Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput and Bishop Michael Fitzgerald, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s office for protecting minors.