Within hours of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s blockbuster claims that Pope Francis knew about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s history of abuse, the bishop of Tyler, Texas, issued a statement saying he found those claims to be credible, asking that it be read at all Masses on Sunday.
Photos from Pope Francis’ trip to Ireland
Pope Francis spent 90 minutes meeting privately with eight survivors of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy or in Catholic-run institutions.
At the end of this World Meeting of Families, we gather as a family around the table of the Lord. We thank God for the many blessings we have received in our families. And we want to commit ourselves to living fully our vocation to be, in the touching words of Saint Therese, “love in the heart of the Church”.
To some extent, it’s undoubtedly unfair to reduce Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland this weekend entirely to a referendum on his handling of the Church’s clerical sexual abuse scandals. The vastly changed social landscape compared to the last time a pope was here almost 40 years ago was visible, among other things, from the relatively light crowds that packed city streets as Pope Francis moved through Dublin.
I thank God for this opportunity, in the context of the World Meeting of Families, to visit this Shrine, so dear to the Irish people.
Just hours after Pope Francis condemned the “repugnant crimes” of sexual abuse by clergy during his two-day trip to Ireland, news broke in the United States that a former papal ambassador to the country is accusing Pope Francis of having known about abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and failing to act.
Pope Francis on Saturday met eight survivors of clerical abuse for 90 minutes during his 32-hour trip to Ireland. The group included not only those sexually abused by clergy, but also people who spent time in industrial schools and mother and baby homes, all of which have been the settings for abuse scandals.
I am grateful to all of you for your warm welcome. It is good to be here! It is good to celebrate, for celebration makes us more human and more Christian. It also helps us to share the joy of knowing that Jesus loves us, he accompanies us on our journey of life, and each day he draws us closer to himself.
I am pleased that we can meet in this historic Pro-Cathedral of Saint Mary’s, which has seen countless celebrations of the sacrament of matrimony over the years. How much love has been expressed, and how many graces have been received in this holy place!
