He assured them that he believes them.
Advertisement
“You are not alone”, Rozzi said.
But those bishops who were aware and who did not report them will be held accountable, he said.
The big challenge, he told more than 100 bishops who came to the meeting from around the world, is to recognize just how many attractive families God has blessed the Church with.
“God weeps” over what was done to the youngsters, he lamented.
After a visit to St. Joseph’s University to see a sculpture commemorating the Nostra Aetate- a document declaring strong relations between Catholics and Jews – Pope Francis will celebrate a two-hour mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. “In New York”, he said, “(It was) a bit beyond all limits”.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a private group tracking the sexual abuse scandal, said the test of the pope’s resolve will be whether he follows through on his promise to hold the culprits accountable. He received a few at the Vatican in July 2014. Francis has agreed to create a tribunal in the Vatican to prosecute these bishops for abuse of office and has accepted the resignations of three USA bishops who mishandled abuse cases.
The meeting marked just the second time Francis has met victims of clergy sexual abuse and was the first on a foreign tour. “No”, said SNAP’s David Clohessy. Because what was groped and destroyed was her flesh, the flesh of her daughter. A monsignor was found guilty of endangering children by not removing pedophile priests, becoming the first American church official convicted of such an offense. It’s doubtful that the pope’s visit will change skeptical minds in Congress – there’s nearly no chance of a bill addressing climate change coming up in the Republican-led Congress, for example.
Abuses occur everywhere, he said, in the family and schools. The meeting with victims abused by people other than priests underscored that point.
Pope Francis speaks often about memory and motion, the importance of remembering where you came from and setting off without fear to share the Gospel.
On Sunday, the Vatican said Pope Francis met with five abuse victims in private in Philadelphia.
He cited a response Francis gave to a question about gay rights early in his papacy: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?” But he warned that a church that does nothing but explain its doctrine is “dangerously unbalanced”. He told then to use their time in prison to get their lives back on track, and he said the suggestion that people can’t change is a lie. Boehner announced Friday that he will resign, allowing him in his remaining days to negotiate with Democrats to pass a two-month budget that funds Planned Parenthood and thus ensures President Obama will sign it. Facing leadership threats from conservatives in his party, Boehner said he didn’t want to subject lawmakers and the American public to another shutdown. They endured hours-long lines and airport-style security checks to see history’s first pope from the Americas in the birthplace of the United States.
Sarah and Terrence Williams, both 36, of Williamstown, New Jersey, have been trying for more than a year to have a baby and said they were hoping that attending the Mass might result in a miracle. “We heard these words before, but victims need action!”
Advertisement
Thomas Coorey, a dentist and father of four visiting Philadelphia from Sydney, called Francis “the most inspirational and incredible pope that could breathe life into this church of mine”.
