Pope asks forgiveness for child sex abuses> Pope Francis >Vatican City

VATICAN CITY- Pope Francis on Friday
personally asked forgiveness for thousands
of child sex abuses carried out by priests and
promised more action following accusations
of cover-ups and excessive leniency by the
Vatican. "I feel compelled... to personally ask for
forgiveness for the damage they have done
for having sexually abused children," the
pope said at a meeting with members of a
children's charity, Vatican Radio reported. The apology was a first
for Francis since he
was elected last year and he was quoted as
saying there were "quite a few" guilty
priests, although "obviously not compared
to the number of all the priests". "The Church is aware of this damage," he
said.
"It is personal, moral damage carried out
by men of the Church and we will not take
one step backward with regards to how we
will deal with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed.
"On the contrary, we must be even
stronger," he added.
Francis was meeting with members of
International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE),
which works to protect the rights and dignity
of children worldwide. Thousands of cases of abuse by priests have
come to light over the past decade and the
Catholic Church is regularly accused of trying
to cover up the crimes. Figures on the total number of priests found
guilty by religious authorities are hard to
come by and activists criticise delays and
opacity in the inquiries.
The Vatican says it is investigating thousands
of cases and in January revealed that some 400 priests were defrocked
for sex crimes in
a two-year period between 2011 and 2012
by Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI. The Vatican has vowed a zero-tolerance
approach and has begun implementing
prevention and detection measures to root
out abuse including through a commission
recently set up by Francis that includes an
Irish victim. But the approach to tackling abuse varies
widely between Catholic bishops'
conferences in different countries and there
is concern that there are still many
unreported cases in Africa and Asia. The Catholic Church in Italy came
under fire
last month for approving a set of guidelines
that said there was no legal obligation but
only a "moral duty" for bishops to inform
the police about suspected abuses. The US-based Survivors Network of Those
Abused by Priests (SNAP) said this reflected
the "stunning, depressing and irresponsible
contradiction between what Vatican officials
say about abuse and do about abuse". The United Nations in February also
condemned the Vatican for failing to stamp
out abuse and allowing systematic cover-ups,
calling on the Church to remove clergy
suspected of raping and molesting children. The UN report said the
abuse had affected
"tens of thousands" of children worldwide
and said the Vatican should automatically
refer cases to law enforcement. Benedict XVI made the first Vatican apology
on abuse in a letter to Irish victims in 2010 in
which he said: "You have suffered
grievously and I am truly sorry." "I know that nothing can undo the wrong
you have endured. Your trust has been
betrayed and your dignity violated," he
said.
"We are all scandalised by the sins and
failures of some of the Church's members."

Posted by Chrisray

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