In a meeting of the Bishops at the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Pope Francis began his speech condemning the clergy sex abuse scandal. Below is a transcript of how he began the speech:
“I have in my heart these stories of suffering of those youth that were sexually abused, and it continues to be on my mind that people who had the responsibility to take care of these tender ones violated that trust and caused them great pain.
God weeps for the sexual abuse of children.
These cannot be maintained in secret, and I commit to a careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected and that all responsible will be held accountable.
Those who have survived this abuse have become true heralds of mercy. Humbly, we owe each of them our gratitude for their great value as they have had to suffer this terrible abuse, sexual abuse of minors.
I would like to express my gratitude to the archbishop, and I felt it was very important that I share this message with you today, and I am happy to be able to share these moments of pastoral reflection with you amid the joyful celebrations of this World Meeting of Families.”
Pope Francis is known to be a very off-the-books kind of Pope and this speech goes to show that you never know what he’s going to say until he says it.
Follow #PopeOnTUTV for coverage of the last day of the Papal visit to Philadelphia. Live coverage can be found on Comcast 50, Verizon 45 and live at templetv.net.
Be the first to comment