Pope Francis has condemned sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by Catholic priests in United States as “abominable”. “With shame and repentance, as a community of church, we concede that we did not act in time when we recognized extent and severity of damage,” wrote Argentine in a letter to all believers. The church has ignored pain of abuse victims for too long.
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“Even though majority of cases belong to past, we can see that injuries inflicted will never disappear,” pope wrote furr. Looking back for forgiveness, however, is never enough. The church must now draw its hard lessons from past and create an environment in which such a thing cannot be repeated or obscured in future.
With his writing, pope referred to a report from Pennsylvania, according to which more than 1,000 children were abused and raped by 300 priests. The documented abuse incidents span last 70 years in six of eight dioceses in U.S. state.
The pope has been under severe pressure since abuse scandals in USA, Ireland, Chile, Australia and Germany. So he is repeatedly accused of announcing a zero tolerance line, but not enforcing it. Francis is currently working on several cases of abuse: he has taken several resignations from clerics and has been trying for months to regain confidence that he had gambled on during his Chile trip in January. There he had taken refuge in a bishop who was to cover up sexual offences.
