PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
Pope Francis met with victims of child sexual abuse Sunday on the final day of his U.S. visit and promised to hold accountable those responsible for the scandal in the church, delivering a powerful warning to American bishops accused of covering up for pedophile priests instead of reporting them to police.
In a gesture of reconciliation just hours before he was to return to Rome, the pontiff praised the victims as “true heralds of mercy” who deserve the church’s gratitude for helping to bring the truth to light.
“God weeps, for the sexual abuse of children cannot be maintained in secret, and I commit to a careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected and that all responsible will be held accountable,” Francis said in Spanish while in the City of Brotherly Love for a big festival on the Catholic family.
It was Francis’ second such meeting: He met with sexual abuse victims at the Vatican in July 2014.
But in a move that signaled a new effort by the church to reshape the discussion, the Vatican said not all five of the victims at Sunday’s meeting were abused by members of the clergy; some of the three women and two men had been victimized by family members or educators.
“I was so touched by his statement to the survivors,” said Allentown Bishop John O. Barres, who attended the pope’s visit to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary on Sunday morning and was among the concelebrants of Sunday afternoon’s Mass in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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