Pope feels shame for Church's no action on Clergy's perversion for long time
text_fields
Vatican City: Pope Francis expressed his guiltiness for the inability of the Church to treat child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in France as a matter of concern for a long time.
Pope was responding to the devastating report that unveiled 70 years of sexual abuse children, and women were subjected by the hands of Catholic priests in France.
While praying for the victims for their sufferings from trauma, he extended his support to French priests to tide over this hard and difficult trial time.
An independent commission prepared report bare laid the perversion practised by the Catholic clergy in France for over seventy years since 1950 in which around 216,000 minors become the victims of priests' sexual abuse.
"My shame, our shame, my shame for the inability of the Church for too long to put them at the centre of its concerns," Pope was quoted as saying AP during his general audience.
He also urged the Clergy to ensure such heinous incidents are not repeated and reminded the French Catholics of their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all.
The commission's two-and-a-half-year inquiry and 2,500-page report prompted outrage as the Catholic Church in France and around the world face a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions.
The Pontiff also issues a statement expressing his sorrow for the victims but went further in a personal message delivered during his weekly general audience at the Vatican.