“I am confident that the World Meeting of Families in 2018 will also be an uplifting event for all of us”. However, “it is another thing to receive that forgiveness”.
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Francis said conscientious objection had to be respected in legal structures.
Francis told the victims who were abused by a member of the clergy that he was “deeply sorry” for the times when the abuse was reported, but victims or their families “were not heard or believed”, the statement said. If I had not been atheist I would have said: “God bless the pope“.
Teacher Carolyn Power said she and the students waited for seven hours on the sidewalk to see Pope Francis, but it was definitely worth it. “God is a champion in finding paths of solutions”.
“I hope it lasts”, she said.
Mr. President, the efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom. “To forgive, you must be willing”.
Insisting that words of condemnation were not enough, Blaine urged the pope to “publicly and promptly punish bishops who are protecting predators now”, and to “order bishops to do the same with their own staff and clerics who are protecting predators now”.
David Clohessy, who heads the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests and was sexually assaulted by a priest as a child, said, “Every pope follows an arc”. “I understand. I cannot judge someone who cannot forgive”.
If the Pope attends the 2018 event, his would be the first papal visit to Ireland since John Paul II’s three-day tour in 1979, the first visit to Ireland by any pontiff.
Melecia Garcia, a lay church leader in Washington DC, was among the Filipino-Americans selected by the archdiocese to volunteer at the mass celebrated by Pope Francis at the national shrine.
“That’s what we want everybody to know”.
The pope’s comments on the abuse scandal, however, drew a mixed reaction from victims and their advocates.
Francis also returned to the subject of child sex abuse by members of the clergy during the flight. “There are even a few bishops who covered this up”.
The Pope’s final day of his USA visit included a mix of joy, faith and the still painful business of the church.
In his homily at the September 24 vespers in St. Patrick’s Cathedral the Pope acknowledged they had come out of the period of “great tribulation”, and reminded them that their vocation is to be lived out with joy.
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Father Murphy said that he hopes to have a meal for all the participants in which they will be able to reflect on their time in Philadelphia.
