Pope Francis: Sexual abuse is more prevalent in the Church than anywhere else

The world's Catholic leader has called on the church to take a tougher stance on sexual abuse. The pope has vowed to end the church's cover-up and to take every case seriously. But critics say the church has failed to take action.

The four-day conference on combating sexual abuse opened at the Vatican on Thursday, February 21st, with a speech by the Pope, and concluded on Sunday, February 24th, with a speech by the leader of the world's Catholics.

The conference was convened because senior church officials from around the world wanted to find a mechanism to prevent and combat sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse in Catholic churches has severely damaged the image of the church and Christians around the world, prompting Pope Francis to order representatives of the Catholic Church from around the world to address the issue at a conference at the Vatican.

The special Vatican meeting was attended by 190 bishops and senior representatives of Catholic churches from around the world. Everyone was waiting for Pope Francis to deliver the closing remarks of the four-day meeting.

The leader of the world's Catholics emphasized: "Sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church is more common and more serious than in other sectors of society."

Pope Francis described the phenomenon of sexual abuse as evil, saying it is widespread throughout the world, but its ugliness is even more damaging within the church because it has a certain moral authority. The pope also said that a priest who sexually abuses children is “a tool of the devil.”

The leader of the world's Catholics stressed that no victim should be forgotten, as has been the case in the past.

Australian bishop: Victims are not the enemy

Although Pope Francis strongly criticized the church and sexual abuse, especially child sexual abuse, in his speech, he did not take any specific steps on how the church should address this abuse.

Other bishops also spoke at the four-day Vatican meeting. Australian Bishop Mark Colerich called for greater protection for victims of church abuse. He said the victims were not the church, but the people who had been raped and abused. He also noted that these victims were seen as the enemy. The Australian bishop continued that if the church could deal with sexual abuse properly, a new chapter in its mission would begin.

Cardinal Marx: End the cover-up about sexual assault

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the highest official of the German Catholic Church, also referred to files and documents at the Vatican meeting that indicated "horrific acts" but that had either disappeared or did not name those who committed these acts.

Reinhard Marx suggested that the church take four steps to rebuild trust in itself: “Re-regulate the regulations on confidential and non-confidential documents. Bring its legal system into line with public standards. Publish statistics and details of abuses and make court cases publicly available.”

Victims of sexual assault react to Pope's remarks

Matthias Katz of the German Victims' Support Association responded to the Pope's remarks on Twitter, calling for "serious and real changes." He stressed in his tweet: "The Pope's speech was a shameless attempt to take the lead in the (victims' protest) movement, but this is not possible without confessing sins and accepting defeat."

Many proposals and ideas were put forward at the four-day Vatican meeting, but conference participants did not make any binding decisions.

A four-day Vatican conference to find a way to prevent sexual abuse by the church ended without adopting a final statement on Sunday, February 24.

Source: DW