CBS News reports:
Pope Francis promised Saturday to “offer all the help we can” to aid clergy sexual abuse victims, after a group of Belgian survivors 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 both blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes.
Most galling to Belgians was that it took the Vatican 14 years to laicize Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted in 2010 to having abused his nephew for 13 years. Francis defrocked him in March in a move widely seen as attempting to remove a problem before his visit.
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Pope’s apology to abuse victims rejected by survivors’ group as ‘damage control’ https://t.co/Fe4C09LqCu pic.twitter.com/LTwmeo3hpt
— Catholic Herald (@CatholicHerald) September 28, 2024
Pope Francis promises to help abuse victims after hearing of their trauma and needs https://t.co/pfJ5ywx7tO
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 28, 2024