POPE FRANCIS APOLOGIZES FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Roma, 12 Jumadil Akhir 1435/12 April 2014 (MINA) – Pope Francis has issued an unprecedented apology for the child sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church.

The pontiff made the remarks on Friday during a meeting with a children’s rights group known as the International Catholic Child Bureau.

“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests — quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests — to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” Francis said.

“The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church,” he added, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

His remarks can be considered as the pope’s first apology for the sex abuse scandals.

Francis has come under increasing fire for perceived inaction on the part of the Vatican in addressing the problem.

Last month, the pope named the initial members of a commission to advise him on ways to combat sexual abuse in the Church.

The commission consists of international and religious experts on sex abuse, and will consider measures to protect children, better screen priests, and train church personnel.

However, rights groups say such steps do not go far enough. They want Francis to name and shame bishops, who have covered up child molesters in the past, and oblige them to report all suspect cases to police.

Over the past few years, the Roman Catholic Church has been facing numerous scandals of child sexual abuse by priests, mainly in the United States and Europe.(T/P012/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)