Pope Francis blasts scandal of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

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Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away. (August 2)

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Pope Francis is in Portugal to open World Youth Day, hoping to inspire the next generation of Catholics to work together to combat conflicts, climate change and other problems facing the world. (August 2)

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Pope Francis arrived at the Vatican Embassy in Lisbon to meet with 13 survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal. (August 2) (AP video/Pietro De Cristofaro, Jorge Jeronimo)

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A nun reaches out to kiss the hand of Pope Francis as he leaves the Jeronimos Monastery after Vespers in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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A nun kisses the hand of Pope Francis as he leaves the Jeronimos Monastery after Vespers in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Pope Francis cheers at a child on his way to the Belem Cultural Center in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (Jose Sena Goulao/Pool via AP)

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Pope Francis is applauded by Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on arrival for a meeting with the Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps at the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa kisses the hand of Pope Francis after a welcome ceremony outside the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal and finishes Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Pope Francis and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, right, attend a meeting with the Authorities, Civil Society, and the Diplomatic Corps at the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, where Pope Francis is attending a welcome ceremony. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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Pope Francis and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, right, converse at the Welcome Ceremony at the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis starts his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, right kisses the hand of Pope Francis during the Welcome Ceremony at the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis starts his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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People wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Palacio Nacional de Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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Pope Francis and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, right, listen to the Portuguese national anthem at the Welcome Ceremony at the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis starts his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Pope Francis boards his flight at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International airport in Fiumicino to start his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, that includes the participation into the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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Pilgrims sit down during the opening mass of World Youth Day, attended by several tens of thousands, at Eduardo VII park in central Lisbon, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Pope Francis will arrive Aug. 2 to attend the event that is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Lisbon and finishes Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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A municipal worker takes down a protest billboard against alleged child abuse by the catholic church in Alges, just outside Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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Pilgrims cool off playing in a fountain in front of the Jeronimos Monastery that Pope Francis visited in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Pope Francis waves as he leaves the Jeronimos Monastery after Vespers in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

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Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa, left, speaks with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State before a meeting with the Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps at the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis has started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal that includes his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

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Pope Francis, with Lisbon’s Patriarch, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, right, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, second from right, President of the Portuguese Conference of Bishops José Ornelas Carvalho, left, starts the vespers inside the 16th-century Jeronimos Monastery and church in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Francis, who will open the World Youth Day on Sunday is meeting with Portugal’s Catholic hierarchy, who recently began the process of reckoning with their legacy of clergy sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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In this image provided by Vatican Media, Pope Francis meets with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, left, inside the Vatican Nunciature in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis arrived Wednesday in Lisbon to attend the international World Youth Day on Sunday which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of young Catholic faithful to Portugal. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)

By NICOLE WINFIELD, HELENA ALVES and BARRY HATTON

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away.

Francis dove head-on into the crisis roiling the Portuguese church on the first day of a five-day visit to Lisbon for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day festival. His trip comes at a delicate moment for the Portuguese church; a panel of experts hired by Portugal’s bishops reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abuse at least 4,815 boys and girls since 1950.

The Vatican said Francis met with 13 abuse victims for more than an hour at the Vatican Embassy and characterized the pope’s role in the meeting as one of “intense listening.” The victims were accompanied by church personnel in charge of child protection programs.

The encounter, which had been expected since Francis met with survivors on previous trips abroad, was aimed at trying to help the Portuguese hierarchy and faithful come to terms with the church’s own legacy of abuse and cover-up after many other European countries have gone through similar reckonings.

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The response by Portugal’s bishops to the expert report’s findings, however, in some ways added to the problem. Prior to the report, Portuguese church officials had insisted there were only a handful of child sex abuse cases. After the document’s release, the bishops initially refused to remove named abusers from ministry and said they would only compensate victims if courts ordered them to.

The meeting with victims took place after Francis presided over a vigil service for Portuguese clergy and nuns at the capital’s iconic Jeronimos Monastery, where in February hundreds of people gathered to brave for victims of sex abuse after the experts’ report was released.

Speaking in his native Spanish, Francis acknowledged many clergy and nuns in countries with once-thriving Catholic parishes feel weary about their vocations because the faithful are increasingly detached from their faith.

“It is often accentuated by the disappointment and anger with which some people view the church, at times due to our poor witness and the scandals that have marred her face and call us to a humble and ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to,” he said.

Bishop Jose Ornelas, the head of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, promised in a speech to Francis to devote “our special attention to the protection of the welfare of children and the undertaking to protect them from all kinds of abuse.”

Although critics have chided church officials for their sluggish response, the bishops’ conference later said the pope’s meeting with abuse survivors was evidence of “the path of reconciliation that the Portuguese church has been following in this area.”

Portugal’s bishops are committed to “putting the victims first,” and “working together” with victims on reparations and their recovery, a conference statement asserted.

The Portuguese Catholic Church also promised in March to build a memorial to victims that would be unveiled during World Youth Day, but organizers scrapped the plan a few weeks ago.

In its place, victims’ advocates launched a campaign called “This is our memorial.” Hours before the pope arrived, they put up a billboard in central Lisbon reading “4,800+ Children Abused by the Catholic Church in Portugal.” They said it was paid for through a crowdfunding campaign that was so successful the organizers can put up more billboards around the city, though none was located along planned routes for his visit.

Reaction to Francis’ comments on abuse were mixed: Some pilgrims outside the Jeronimos Monastery said the World Youth Day gathering wasn’t the time or place to raise the issue.

Giovanni, a 47-year-old pilgrim from Italy who declined to give his last name, said it was clear that people who come from around the world to attend the event “don’t like bad things. We definitely hope whatever is clear that is wrong will be stopped and canceled.”

But he noted that the pope had requested forgiveness for the church’s legacy of child sex abuse “and it also shows his commitment to solve this issue as well.”

Francis came to Lisbon to participate in his fourth World Youth Day, the raucous Catholic jamboree launched by St. John Paul II in the 1980s to invigorate the next generation of Catholics in their faith. More than 1 million young people from around the world were expected to attend the events in Lisbon, which run through Sunday.

As he was traveling to Portugal, the pope said he would continue urging young people to “make a mess” — a reference to his now-famous exhortation during his first World Youth Day as pontiff, in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. It was a call for young people to shake things up in their parishes and has come to symbolize Francis’ own revolutionary reforms that have shaken up the Catholic Church at large.

Francis’ first stop in Portugal was at the Belem National Palace, the official presidential residence in an area west of Lisbon from where Portugal’s maritime explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries set sail. Addressing Portuguese government authorities and the diplomatic corps at a nearby conference center, the pope referred to Portugal’s sea-faring history, its place in Europe and its openness to others.

“We are sailing amid storms on the ocean of history, and we sense the need for courageous courses of peace,” he said. “It is my hope that World Youth Day will be, for the ‘Old Continent,’ the aged continent, an impulse towards universal openness.”

Citing Russia’s war in Ukraine, global warming and Europe’s aging population, he urged young people in particular to take up the mantle to build a future together.

“I dream of a Europe, the heart of the West, which employs its immense talents to settling conflicts and lighting lamps of hope,” Francis said.

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