Pope Francis will meet
victims of priestly sex abuse on his August 25-26 visit to
Ireland, an island that has changed greatly since his
predecessor John Paul II visited it in 1979.
The Catholic Church has lost its once-dominant position in
Irish life after a string of clerical sex abuse and cover-up
scandals, as well as revelations of brutality at Church-run
institutions for disgraced single mothers.
The Catholic country recently voted to allow abortions and
three years ago became the first country to approve gay marriage
in a referendum.
Ireland also has an openly gay premier in Leo Varadkar, the
son of Indian immigrants.
Francis will pray for the victims of abuse on Saturday
in a Dublin cathedral in front of a lamp that has been put there
to mark victims' suffering.
"It is important for the pope to listen to them", Vatican
spokesman Greg Burke said this week.
He said the victims would decide whether to divulge the
contents of the meeting.
The pope will also pray at the tomb of the 'patron saint of
alcoholics', ex-Franciscan friar Matt Talbot.
Earlier this week the pope apologised for being "too late" to
stop "atrocities" on children, saying the Church had "abandoned
the little ones", in reference to about a thousand kids abused
in the latest case in the US.
In an impassioned letter to the People of God, Francis voiced
"shame and repentance" on the latest clerical sex abuse
scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, saying authorities
had acted too late.
Francis said "with shame and repentance, as an ecclesiastical
community, we admit that we did not go where we should have
gone, that we did not act in time recognising the scope and
gravity of the damage that was being caused to so many lives".
He said "We neglected and abandoned the little ones".
The pope said priestly sex abuse of children is a crime that
"generates deep wounds".
Francis said "we ask forgiveness" for the "atrocities"
committed in priestly sex abuse of minors.
The pontiff was forced to apologise earlier this year after
dismissing victims' claims that Chilean Bishop Juan Barros
witnessed and did nothing about abuse committed by the country's
most notorious sexual predator, Father Fernando Karadima.
Victims groups have complained that Francis has not done
enough on the issue.
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