POPE FRANCIS TODAY said the Catholic Church must learn from victims of child sexual abuse, as he was pressed on the issue on the second day of his Belgium visit partially overshadowed by past scandals.
Replying at a meeting in Brussels to a scripted question by a representative of an organisation helping abuse victims, the pontiff acknowledged the “atrocious suffering and wounds” caused by the Church.
“There is a need for a great deal of mercy to keep us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims, so that we can help them feel our closeness,” Francis said at the meeting with clergy and pastoral workers.
Yesterday, he met with 17 abuse victims for over two hours who are seeking compensation from the Church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need.
They said they gave Francis a month to study their demands and the Vatican said Pope Francis “took note” of their requests.
“There are so many victims. There are also so many victims who are still completely broke,” survivor Koen Van Sumere told The Associated Press after the meeting yesterday.
Van Sumere said he was encouraged by the “positive” meeting with the Pope but was waiting to see what comes of it.
Speaking today at a gathering at the vast Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg, one of the largest churches in the world, Francis said: “We must learn from them, as you said, to be a Church at the service of all without belittling anyone.
“Indeed, one of the roots of violence stems from the abuse of power when we use the positions we have to crush or manipulate others.”
His words came in response to Mia De Schamphelaere, a Belgian politician and the coordinator of a Flemish centre for abuse victims, who asked how the Church could learn from its mistakes and create a safe environment for everyone.
Decades of scandals and cover-ups have loomed large over the pope’s visit to Belgium, where a hard-hitting documentary last year put the issue back on front pages, prompting new victims to come forward.
Francis started the day by having breakfast with a group of 10 homeless people and migrants who are looked after by the St Gilles parish of Brussels.
They sat around a table at the entrance to the parish church and told him their stories, and gave him bottles of beer that the parish makes called La Biche Saint Gilles. The proceeds of the beer sales help fund the parish’s charity works.
Francis thanked them for the beer and breakfast and told them that the church’s true wealth was in caring for the weakest.
“If we want to truly know and show the church’s beauty, we should give to one another like this, in our smallness, in our poverty, without pretexts and with much love.”
Beginning his visit yesterday, Francis said the Church had to “seek forgiveness”, calling child sexual abuse “our shame and our humiliation,” after being questioned on the issue by King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
In a more jovial atmosphere elsewhere today, Francis blessed children after his remarks, taking selfies and shaking hands with a crowd of faithful that greeted him at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
He is later due to hold discussions with students at Louvain-la-Neuve in French-speaking Wallonia, notably on climate issues, before concluding his visit tomorrow with an open-air mass.
- © AFP 2024 and with additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper
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