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Pope Benedict XVI meets US victims
of sexual abuse by catholic priests
Pope Benedict XVI has met the
victims of abuse by pedophile priests
in the United States.
22 April, 2008: In a rare
gesture of candidness and humility,
Pope Benedict XVI has met the victims
of abuse by pedophile priests in the
United States.
In the historic meeting, the first of
its kind, the Pope offered the victims
his support after he acknowledged the
“pain and damage” caused by the
Catholic Church’s sex scandal.
The German-born Pope Benedict, 81, had
arrived in the United States on April
15, 2008, for a 6-day visit of the
country.
It was after celebrating Mass with
about 48,000 people that the Pope met
a small group of five people who were
sexually abused by members of the
Catholic clergy, the news agency
Associated Press quoted the Vatican as
saying in a statement. The private
meeting lasted about 25 minutes.
The statement from the Vatican
added,“The group prayed together, and
the Pontiff then listened to the
stories of the victims and “offered
them words of encouragement and hope.
His Holiness assured them of his
prayers for their intentions, for
their families and for all victims of
sexual abuse.”
CNN quoted some of the victims of
sexual abuse by priests as having told
the Pope that the Pontiff had given
them hope that the Church would
change.
Bernie McDaid, who was aged 12 when he
was abused, told CNN,“I said to him,
Holy Father, you have a cancer growing
in your flock and you need to do
something about that, and I hope you
understand me and hear me. And, I
touched his heart, and he nodded
again. He looked down at the floor and
looked back up, and nodded.”
Olan Horne, another victim of sexual
abuse, told CNN in an interview,“When
you meet somebody and you know that
you don’t have to convince them that
there’s a problem, and they
intrinsically understand their role in
it, you know it. And, we could see
that. We could see it in the eyes, we
could see it in the sincerity and
there’s a phenomenal hope that I came
out of that meeting with.”
Pope Benedict XVI has apologised
several times since he began his first
papal visit to the United States on
April 15, 2008, admitting that he was
“deeply ashamed” of the scandal which
has shaken the Catholic Church in the
US.
The Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests (SNAP), a small group for
victims of sexual abuse by priests,
said in statement,“The meeting of the
victims with the Pope was positive,
but the Pope needs to do much more to
reform the Church and prevent further
abuse. This is a small, long overdue
step forward on a very long road.”
The sex scandal involving Catholic
priests in the United States had grown
into a nationwide shame for the Church
after Cardinal Bernard Law, who was
then Archbishop of Boston, resigned in
2002 amidst strong protests over his
handling of abusive priests.
Over 5000 priests were accused of
molesting nearly 12,000 victims.
The US Catholic Church had paid out
$615 million (400 million euros) in
2007 to settle sex abuse cases,
according to the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
The Pope also held a private meeting
with Jewish leaders in Washington at
which the Pontiff exhorted both Jews
and Roman Catholics, according to the
Vatican statement, to forge “new
attitudes” to foster world peace.
The Pope said in a message he read to
Jewish leaders: “I wish to reiterate
the Catholic Church’s commitment to
the dialogue that in the past 40 years
has fundamentally changed our
relationship for the better. I ask the
Jewish community to accept my Passover
greeting in a spirit of openness to
the real possibilities of
cooperation.”
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