Pope Francis blasts ‘scandal’ of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country's Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away.

Francis dove head-on into the crisis roiling the Portuguese church on the first day of a five-day visit to Lisbon for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day festival.

His trip comes at a delicate moment for the Portuguese church; a panel of experts hired by Portugal's bishops reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abuse at least 4,815 boys and girls since 1950.

The Vatican said Francis met with 13 abuse victims for more than an hour at the Vatican Embassy and characterised the pope's role in the meeting as one of “intense listening.”

The victims were accompanied by church personnel in charge of child protection programmes.

The encounter, which had been expected since Francis met with survivors on previous trips abroad, was aimed at trying to help the Portuguese hierarchy and faithful come to terms with the church's own legacy of abuse and cover-up after many other European countries have gone through similar reckonings.

The response by Portugal's bishops to the expert report's findings, however, in some ways added to the problem.

Prior to the report, Portuguese church officials had insisted there were only a handful of child sex abuse cases.

After the document's release, the bishops initially refused to remove named abusers from ministry and said they would only compensate victims if courts ordered them to.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.