Sex abuse in the Catholic
Church is "devastating", Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal
Pietro Parolin told Vatican News Wednesday ahead of Pope
Francis's visit to Ireland this weekend.
"I think we are continuing to be deeply struck by this
phenomenon which has had a devastating effect on the testimony
of the Church," Parolin said two days after Francis said the
Church had been tardy in responding to "atrocities" that
"abandoned the little ones".
His statement also came after Pennsylvania authorities
detailed abuse of over 1,000 children by 30 priests over 70
years.
"The pope has always and continues to insist on the fact that
our first duty, our first commitment is to be close to the
victims, to help them in such a way that they can rebuild their
lives," Parolin told Vatican News.
Asked what the pope would have to say to the Irish faithful
after several paedophilia cases there and in the wake of the
Pennsylvania report, Parolin replied:
"It is not easy to say, because this scandal of clerical
sexual abuse has really affected, and continues to affect us,
everybody and it has a devastating effect on the life and on the
witness that the Church is going to give to the world.
"As Pope Francis reminded us many times, and he continues to
do so, that our first duty is to take care of the people who
have been affected - the victims of this tragic phenomenon.
"I think that the Church in Ireland has recognized its
failures and at the same time it has provided measures to
prevent in the future what happened in the past.
"And then, on this framework, attention to the victims,
recognition and repentance for what was committed in the past.
"And in this effort to prevent such things from happening
again, I think that we have to see the journey of the Holy
Father as a journey of hope, to help the Church in Ireland and
the family in general, just to take a journey with more hope
that we can really change and we can build a society in which
the children and the vulnerable person are secure, are sure and
really the Church can play its role according to the Gospel.
Victims groups have said the pope's condemnation of sexual
abuse has not been matched by sufficient action to prevent such
abuse recurring.
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