Tearful pope says church will protect kids

Published 9:51 am Monday, April 19, 2010

VALLETTA, Malta — With tears in his eyes, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday made his most personal gesture yet to respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal, telling victims the church will do everything possible to protect children and bring abusive priests to justice, the Vatican said.

The emotional moment carried no new admissions from the Vatican, which has strongly rejected accusations that efforts to cover up for abusive priests were directed by the church hierarchy for decades. But the pontiff told the men that the church would “implement effective measures” to protect children, the Vatican said, without offering details.

Benedict met for more than a half-hour with eight Maltese men who say they were abused by four priests when they were boys living at a Catholic orphanage. During the meeting in the chapel at the Vatican’s embassy here, Benedict expressed his “shame and sorrow” at the pain the men and their families suffered, the Vatican said.

“Everybody was crying,” one of the men, Joseph Magro, 38, said after the meeting. “I told him my name was Joseph, and he had tears in his eyes.”

Lawrence Grech, who led efforts to arrange the encounter, said the pope told each of the men: “I am very proud of you for having come forward to tell your story.”

The visit — which came on the second day of Benedict’s two-day trip to this largely Roman Catholic island — marked the first time Benedict has met with abuse victims since the worldwide clerical abuse scandal engulfed the Vatican earlier this year.

The private meeting was confirmed only after it had occurred — as was the case when Benedict met with abuse victims in the United States and Australia in 2008. He returned to Rome late Sunday.

Benedict made no direct reference to the scandals during a Mass on Sunday morning. He told Maltese to cling to their faith despite the temptations of modern society.

“Many voices try to persuade us to put aside our faith in God and his church,” he warned.

Benedict has been accused by victims groups and their lawyers of being part of systematic practice of cover-up by church hierarchy for pedophile priests, in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the helm of the Vatican morals office.