Sex abuse survivor tells his story in front of Pope Francis

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[eagleswings]

My heart goes out to all the victims of abuse…. We acknowledge that we failed you and we humbly ask for forgiveness.

[mariellamenezes]

I feel sorry. Recent years I heard the child abuse. As a child we were quite safe with our priests and no one misbehaved. A few are like that. Most of the priests are good and very good and holy, respecting the dignity of everyone. May we pray for all the priests.

[Ltsodb-bm]

Nothing is hidden in the Church. The crime must be in the perpetrators and not on the Church of course. This principle must be respected

[wendyfield]

Extremely well articulated. … and courageous. + But it must also be said too that the majority of priests are good people and try to live holy lives. +

[Romans.]

The perpetrators got away with all their evil while the victims ignored

[BlueBaron-xr]

God bless the church and Pope Francis for humbly putting this sad situation up for knowledge of everyone and discussion. This is the one and only first step necessary for accountability.. and forgiveness. That this evil may finally stop.

[DB-qwxq]

Really sad to hear this, and my prayers are with this kind man. My thoughts concerning the predatory paedophile, who was also a priest, is that a) morally he was never following his commitment as a priest; b) he clearly should never have been ordained (although nowhere in the world had checks on people like we do now); his superiors should not have put the reputation of the institution ahead of the wellbeing of the child; c) since the sexual abuse of children has become a much more known about (both in general and by the Church) and has become a public issue (since the early/mid 1980s), the incidence of child sexual abuse has declined in both the Catholic Church and in society generally, though the rate of decline is greater in the Catholic Church than it is in general society (in most countries). Therefore, it should also be acknowledged that the Church is now one of the safest places for children to be present in. There are also now serious checks and balances in the process of selecting priest candidates, and once ordained, clergy of all ranks undergo annual safeguarding training, and have to follow strict safeguarding rules which involve making sure that a priest is never alone with a child. These procedures (guarantees of conduct) give confidence to the child, parents and wider Church community that their children will be safe. Many other organisations now have the same rules and together this has brought rate of the abuse of children down. In the Church it is now virtually non-existent. Current safeguarding policy and practices established by the Church now have expert agencies and structures charged with ensuring that all Catholic institutions maintain high standards of safeguarding practise. These include the new and fully independent agencies such as the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) and Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS). I pray for all those who had been seriously let down by the Church's historic lack of safeguarding, but I also hail the new standards that are not only in-line with modern understandings of child safety, but also in-line with Biblical requirements to protect children who have a special place in God's heart: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14).

[HanaNayanika]

This is sad😢. Only Jesus can heal. His love is the answer.

[jeanjones]

My cousin was in illinois. It was very hidden, even in the family. It took years for him not to use drugs and alcohol as a psychological pain relief.

[Beatrice.Ndungu]

Lord have Mercy on your bride - The church

[BBAR]

I cannot finish the video it is horrible, 😢

[srlittilemarysabs]

God designed celibates follow.. Jesus, , , his celibate life.... You can get good teachings in this matter from Orthodox.... Monks like spiridrone.... Some of them in utube talks and sermons....

[angelinasubba]

Pope is not god, how can he forgive sins, already he is saitaan

[peterzinya]

All those clergy sitting there do the same.