Pope Francis on Monday condemned the new wave of sexual abuse by members of the clergy against children uncovered in Pennsylvania.
“‘If one member suffers, all suffer together with it’ (1 Cor 12:26),” the pope wrote in his statement. “These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons.”
The pope said the crimes uncovered “inflict deep wounds of pain,” and said “no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient.’
“Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated,” he wrote. “The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.”
“We have realized that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death; these wounds never go away,” Pope Francis wrote. “The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced.”
[More: Pope Francis breaks silence on Pennsylvania Catholic church sex abuse scandal]
Pope Francis said the actions of members of the clergy in Pennsylvania go directly against Catholic teachings.
“We feel shame when we realize that our style of life has denied, and continues to deny, the words we recite,” he added.
“With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives,” Francis wrote. “We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”
Pope Francis said the scandal “requires coming to grips with this reality,” and asked everyone in the church to recommit themselves to ending abuse.
“It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable,” he wrote. “Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others. An awareness of sin helps us to acknowledge the errors, the crimes and the wounds caused in the past and allows us, in the present, to be more open and committed along a journey of renewed conversion.”
“May fasting and prayer open our ears to the hushed pain felt by children, young people and the disabled,” he added. “A fasting that can make us hunger and thirst for justice and impel us to walk in the truth, supporting all the judicial measures that may be necessary. A fasting that shakes us up and leads us to be committed in truth and charity with all men and women of good will, and with society in general, to combatting all forms of the abuse of power, sexual abuse and the abuse of conscience.”
