Pope Francis on Wednesday met with victims of clerical sexual abuse, as he began a five-day visit to Portugal for a major Catholic youth festival.
The 86-year-old pontiff had earlier said that the “anguished cry” of sexual abuse victims must be heard, six months after a report into the abuse that shook Portugal.
Francis was welcomed with military honors in Lisbon, where 1 million pilgrims from around the world were expected to take part in World Youth Day festivities.
Photo:AP
The event — a week of religious, cultural and festive events held about every three years in a different city — comes as the Catholic Church reflects on its future and grapples with priest pedophilia scandals. A report released in February in Portugal by an independent commission concluded that at least 4,815 children had been abused by clergy members, mostly priests, in the country since 1950.
The inquiry — similar to audits elsewhere in Europe and the Americas — concluded that the church hierarchy “systematically” tried to conceal the abuse.
In an address to the clergy at Lisbon’s Jeronimos Monastery, the pontiff said the sex abuse scandals had “marred” the church and sparked “disappointment and anger.”
These scandals “call us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to,” he said.
In a brief statement later on Wednesday, the Vatican confirmed he held a meeting with 13 victims at the Holy See’s diplomatic mission, where he is staying.
“The meeting was held in an atmosphere of intense listening and lasted more than an hour,” it said.
The Portuguese Bishops’ Conference said the meeting showed the church in Portugal was “putting the victims first, collaborating in their reparation and recovery, so that they can look to the future with renewed hope and freedom.”
On the second day of his visit, the pope urged young people to focus on caring for the planet and fighting climate change, calling for an “integral ecology” that melds environmental protection with the fight against poverty and other social problems.
“We must recognize the dramatic and urgent need to care for our common home. Yet this cannot be done without a real change of heart,” he said during an open-air address to students at Lisbon’s Catholic University.
“We cannot be satisfied with mere palliative measures or timid and ambiguous compromises,” he added, speaking in his native Spanish.
The audience of about 6,500 people, which included Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and bishops, cheered and applauded as the pontiff took the stage while a choir sang Jesus Christ You Are My Life.
“Keep in mind that we need an integral ecology, attentive to the sufferings both of the planet and the poor. We need to align the tragedy of desertification with that of refugees, the issue of increased migration with that of a declining birthrate,” he said.
“Instead of polarized approaches, we need a unified vision, a vision capable of embracing the whole,” he said.
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