Two years ago to the day, in Washington, DC, Pope Benedict XVI met with some abuse victims from the Boston area who were taken to see him by Cardinal Sean O'Malley. God's ways are truly inscrutable...
Pope meets with
abuse victims in Malta
On Sunday 18 April 2010, in the Apostolic Nunciature in Malta, the Holy Father met a small group of persons who were sexually abused by members of the clergy.
He was deeply moved by their stories and expressed his shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have suffered. He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future.
In the spirit of his recent Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, he prayed that all the victims of abuse would experience healing and reconciliation, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope.
VALLETTA, Malta, April 18 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of clerical abuse victims Sunday and promised them the Catholic Church would implement "effective measures" to protect young people in the future.
The Vatican said Benedict expressed his "shame and sorrow" at the pain the men and their families suffered and prayed with them during the meeting at the Vatican's embassy in Malta.
It was the first time Benedict had met with abuse victims since the worldwide clerical abuse scandal engulfed the Vatican earlier this year. [It was the first opportunity he's had to do it, for heaven's sake!]
"He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future," a Vatican statement said.
Victims' advocacy groups have demanded that the Vatican take concrete steps to protect children and remove abusive priests, saying the Pope's expressions to date of solidarity and shame are meaningless unless actual action is taken.
[It's the local bishop's direct responsibility, not the Pope's, to take 'actual action'.]
Benedict's overnight trip to Malta -- scheduled to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck -- has been
overshadowed by expectations that the Pope would make a strong gesture to repair the damage of the scandal. [And who has done everything to make sure the visit itself is 'overshadowed' - by simply reporting the media's wishful thinking????]
Benedict has been accused by victims' groups and their lawyers of being part of systematic practice of coverup by church hierarchy for pedophile priests, in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the helm of the Vatican morals office.
Ten Maltese men came forward earlier this month saying they wanted to meet with the Pope to tell him their stories and to request an apology. They say they were abused by four priests at a Catholic orphanage.
Benedict made no direct reference to the scandals during a Mass Sunday morning. He told Maltese to cling to their faith despite the temptations of modern society.
"Many voices try to persuade us to put aside our faith in God and his Church," he warned.
The media, in this case, particularly AP, are throughly despicable. Like the victims themselves and the Holocaust cultists among the Jews, nothing the Church or the Pope can say or do will ever be enough. In fact, even the patently good things the Church and its conscientious bishops are doing are deliberately nd made out to be bad - like all the three charges they have tried to rig against Benedict XVI so far.
The AP has added the following to its initial report:
Tearful Pope says Church
will better protect the young
by VICTOR SIMPSON
...The Vatican said the group of eight men, in their 30s and 40s, met with Benedict in the chapel of the Vatican embassy.
"Everybody was crying," one of the men, Joseph Magro, 38, told Associated Press Television News after the meeting. "I told him my name was Joseph, and he had tears in his eyes."
He said the men received a call Sunday morning to come to the embassy and that the Pope spent a few minutes with each one of them. He said the overall encounter, which lasted about 35 minutes, was "fantastic."
Lawrence Grech, who led efforts to arrange the encounter, said the Pope told each of the men: "I am very proud of you for having come forward to tell your story."
"It was something big," Grech said.
At the end, they prayed together and the Pope gave his blessing, the Vatican said.
"The climate was intense but very serene," said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
The private meeting was only confirmed after it had occurred — as was the case when Benedict met with abuse victims in the United States and Australia in 2008.
The main U.S. victims group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said it was easy for Benedict to make promises about taking action to protect children.
"Not a single adult should feel relieved until strong steps are actually taken, not promised, that will prevent future child sex crimes and cover ups," said Peter Isely, the group's midwest director. [Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright already!]
The AP, of course, had no choice but to report what the victims said about the meeting, and we are thankful that they did. We can only pray that all open-minded persons who read their simple account will recognize the Holy Father's profound sincerity and goodness.... which are above and beyond any 'PR' considerations.
Vatican Radio has a report on Fr. Lombardi's news conference:
Pope was 'deeply moved',
says Fr. Lombardi
Vatican Press Office Director, Fr Federico Lombardi held a press conference shortly after the Pope’s meeting with the victims. He described the meeting as “intense”, yet “serene”. He said Pope Benedict XVI was ‘deeply moved’ by what each of the victims had to tell him.
Fr Lombardi told journalists that the entire meeting lasted about 35 minutes and was held in the Chapel of the nunciature. The meeting started with prayer and then the Pope received the victims individually. The meeting ended with all present praying together and the Pope then blessed the victims.
There had been intense press speculation regarding this meeting in the weeks leading up to Pope Benedict’s arrival here, yesterday evening. Responding to newsmen, Fr Federico Lombardi S.J, repeated what he had always said, that if the meeting was to take place it would be a private and personal encounter and that is exactly what it was.
The eight men, who are now mostly in their mid-to–late 30’s and 40’s, were abused by priests as children at St Joseph’s orphanage in Malta. They had requested this meeting with Pope Benedict through their bishops, Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo, and Archbishop Paul Cremona. The bishops accompanied them this morning.
After the meeting, Lawrence Grech, spokesman for the group and himself a victim, spoke to the press at the press centre in Valetta. Visibly moved he told journalists that his personal encounter with the Pope had given him great spiritual courage.
Speaking to the
Times of Malta he said:”We now have peace in our hearts, even because the Pope found time to meet us. We now look forward to the end of the court case, and closure of this chapter."
It's been a bit frustrating that no single agency has been able to report everything Lawrence Grech said, so I have gone through all the reports I can find in English and Italian, and have found the two best accounts that reports things the other reports don't:
Fr. Lombardi gicves an impromptu news conference - and so does Lawrence Grech, accosted by newsmen.
What Grech said
about the meeting
Translated from
"I saw the Pope weep with emotion and I feel liberated of a great weight," said Lawrence Grech, one of eight abuse victims the Pope met with at the Apostolic Nunciature in Rabat early this afternoon.
"I did not hope for apologies from the Pope, but I saw in him and the Bishop of Malta the humility of a Church which at that moment represented all the problems of a modern Church."
Grech said the Pope had "laid his hand on the head of each of us who were present when he blessed us. I felt such a great weight lifted from me. For so long, I have not gone to Mass, I had lost my faith, but now I feel I am a convinced Catholic again."
"
The meeting with the Pope", he said, "
is the greatest gift I have ever received after the birth of my daughter," alth0ugh ne was not able to be at the little girl's third birthday party today because of the meeting with the Pope.
Grech, 35, despite the abuses he suffered as a boy who grew up in an orphanage, is now a small business owner. After ten years spent in Australia, he has a carpet-cleaning business and is the only one among the ten victims who is self-employed.
reports this:
Grech told AFP he was impressed by Benedict's "humility", adding that the 83-year-old pontiff "was ready to take on the embarrassment (for deeds) done by others. He was very courageous."
The Pope was "the topmost person who could have listened to me and my story," Grech said. "I will continue my battle, not against the Church but against pedophilia."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/04/2010 23:09]