NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 24, 2015
NEW YORK
Pope Francis has poignantly thanked U.S. Catholic women religious — until recently the subject of two controversial Vatican investigations — for their work in building and maintaining the church throughout the country.
But the pontiff has also made his second statement in as many days that only obliquely mentions the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and refers to the shame brought upon priests and religious due to the perpetrators but not the pain faced by survivors.
In a prayer service with priests and members of religious orders at St. Patrick’s Cathedral here Thursday evening, Francis said he wanted to express his “esteem and gratitude” to women religious of the United States “in a special way.”…
The pontiff opened his remarks inside the cathedral with an unplanned moment expressing condolences and prayers for the hundreds of people who were killed in a stampede in Mecca Thursday, during part of the traditional pilgrimage for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
The pope expressed sentiments for our “Muslim brothers and sisters” and said he wished he could greet them under warmer circumstances. He asked those in the church to unite in prayer with him for them. …
Francis had previously spoken obliquely about the sexual abuse crisis in Washington Wednesday during a speech to some 300 U.S. bishops in the Cathedral of St. Matthew.
On that occasion, he told the bishops: “I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you.”
“I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims — in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed — and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated,” the pope said.
Survivors’ advocates widely criticized those words, saying they insufficiently addressed the scope of the clergy abuse crisis in the U.S. The National Survivor Advocates Coalition even said the pope had “described a fairy tale” of the bishops’ handling of abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.