VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis begged forgiveness Monday in his first meeting with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy and went farther than any of his predecessors by vowing to hold bishops accountable for their handling of pedophile priests.
Abuse victims and their advocates have long demanded that higher-ups be made to answer for the decades-long cover-ups of rape and molestation of youngsters in a scandal that has rocked the church and dismayed its flock of 1.2 billion.
The pope celebrated a private Mass with six victims — one woman and one man each from Ireland, Britain and Germany — at his Vatican residence, and he spent the rest of the morning listening to their accounts, one on one.
But in speaking of accountability, he made no specific mention of whether bishops and other prelates who shuffled child-molesting priests from parish to parish or didn’t inform police and prosecutors would be fired or demoted.
“All bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and they will be held accountable,” Francis said in his homily.
“Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. And I humbly ask forgiveness,” the pope said.
One of the six, Marie Kane, said she asked Francis to remove an Irish cardinal, Sean Brady, from his post because of how he handled abuse allegations. She quoted him as replying, “It was difficult to make these changes.”
