Pope Francis has defended his words of consolation to USA bishops over the priest sex abuse scandal but says – for the first time – that those who covered up for abusers are guilty of wrongdoing.
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On his way back to Rome after a busy week overseas, reporters aboard the papal plane asked Pope Francis to sum up his trip.
Before his remarks, while at the airport, the pope also met with Vice President Joe Biden, exchanging greetings before stepping to the lectern.
In wide-ranging comments made during his flight back to Rome, Francis shrugged off his celebrity, expressed interest in visiting China and reflected on the huge outpouring of support during his USA visit – his first. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said the crowd numbered more than a million.
“I understand that woman”, the Pope said, “and God who is better still than me understands her”.
The group – three women and two men – had been abused by clergy, family members or teachers, papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
Alanis was among about 140 New Mexico Catholics who boarded 15 rented vans Wednesday to begin a almost 2,000-mile pilgrimage to Philadelphia. He said, “I can say that conscientious objection is a right, and it is part of every human right”. Francis pledged to hold priests and bishops “accountable when they abuse or fail to protect children”.
“But this is not a divorce”, the Pope said, “because marriage is indissoluble when it is a sacrament – and the Church can not change that: this is doctrine”.
Francis met with five people on September 27 who had been sexually abused as children, saying he was “deeply sorry” that their experiences were not heard or believed when they spoke out about the abuse. That gathering is the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families.
Dear friends, I embrace all of you in the Lord and I entrust you to the maternal care of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States.
While the Vatican has cracked down on priests who rape and molest children in recent years, it has always been accused of turning a blind eye to the bishops who moved abusers around rather than report them to police.
The pope then told 300 bishops and others at the seminary that the crimes and sins of sexual abuse of children can not be kept secret any longer.
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But while rounding off his US tour in Philadelphia, the Pontiff was stunned when he came face-to-face with an infant dressed exactly like him and burst into laughter. Yet we know with certainty that evil never has the last word, and that, in God’s merciful plan, love and peace triumph over all.
