Pope Francis promised Saturday to “offer all the assistance we are able to” to help victims of clergy sexual abuse heal after victims told him first-hand of the trauma that had shattered their lives and left many in poverty and mental misery.
Francis’ visit to Belgium has been dominated by the abuse scandal, with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo each blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes.
Francis met for greater than two hours late Friday with 17 survivors who’re looking for reparations from the church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need. They said they gave Francis a month to review their demands — a requirement the Vatican said Francis was studying.
“There are so many victims. There are also so many victims who’re still completely broke,” survivor Koen Van Sumere told The Associated Press. “I actually have also been lucky enough to get a diploma and construct a life for myself. But there are such a lot of people who find themselves completely broke and who need assistance and who cannot afford it and who really want urgent help now.”
Van Sumere said he was encouraged by the “positive” meeting with the pope, but was waiting to see what comes of it.
On Saturday, during a gathering with Belgian clergy and nuns on the Koekelberg Basilica, Francis acknowledged that abuse had created “atrocious suffering and wounds,” and undermined the religion.
“There is a necessity for an amazing deal of mercy to maintain us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims in order that we may also help them feel our closeness and offer all the assistance we are able to,” he said. “We must learn from them … to be a church on the service of all without belittling anyone. Indeed, considered one of the roots of violence stems from the abuse of power once we use the positions we’ve to crush or manipulate others.”
Francis began the day by having breakfast — coffee and croissants — with a bunch of 10 homeless people and migrants who’re sorted by the St. Gilles parish of Brussels.
They sat around a table at the doorway of the parish church and told him their stories, and gave him bottles of beer that the parish makes, “La Biche Saint Gilles.” The proceeds of the beer sales help fund the parish’s charity works.
Francis thanked them for the beer and breakfast and told them that the church’s true wealth was in caring for the weakest.
“If we would like to actually know and show the church’s beauty, we must always give to at least one one other like this, in our smallness, in our poverty, without pretexts and with much love.”
The breakfast encounter was presided over by Marie-Françoise Boveroulle, an adjunct episcopal vicar for the diocese. The position is often filled by a priest, but Boveroulle’s appointment has been highlighted as evidence of the roles that girls can and will play within the church.
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