Pope regrets clergy sex abuse of children in Canada
Pope expresses sorrow at sexual abuse inflicted on Native American children in Roman Catholic schools
Pope Benedict XVI today (Wednesday) said he regretted sexual abuse inflicted on Native American children by clergy for decades in Roman Catholic schools in Canada.
Meeting representatives of the victims in the Vatican, the Pope expressed his "sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church and offered his sympathy and prayerful solidarity," according to a Vatican statement.
It said: "His Holiness emphasised that acts of abuse cannot be tolerated in society. He prayed that all those affected would experience healing, and he encouraged First Nations peoples to continue to move forward with renewed hope".
Phil Fontaine, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Canada, said the Pope had "very clearly" shown that "he is sorry and feels our suffering". The former pupils were accompanied by Archbishop V. James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He said the pontiff had expressed "his regret, his sorrow and his pain at what happened to the aboriginal people" in some of the residential schools, which were abolished in the 1990s. Three quarters were run by the Catholic Church.
Hold on a minute your Pontification,
These guys, YOUR priests, YOUR ordained purveyors of YOUR religions scripture are the Catholic church's shameful responsibility.
You should not be merely making low key apologies, surely you should be making a worldwide address, announcing YOUR church's acceptance of its responsibility.
Have no doubt, these religious men, YOUR charges, have supremely screwed up the lives of many, some may even have committed suicide because of the atrocities YOUR religion's staff carried out.
(It's a separate issue but would that have cost the victime their eternity?)
You were at the least lax in your control of these young men, and at worst could by some be considered culpable by inaction.As a man hailed by many as the earthly representative of God, reputedly a being of ultimate compassion, do you really think sorry is sufficient response to the for decades of damage caused by your reps?
The Catholic Church should surely be providing all the victims of its minions, however much psychological counselling they need.
Wouldn't that be a more appropriate response than making them fight through the courts for a few quid's compensation?
I can see that thousands of people receiving psychological help, for perhaps half a century, to get over what YOUR Priests did to them, might be less easily swept under the historical carpet than a sorrowful wave and a smile, but as one who is supposedly the holiest and most compassionanate man on the planet, shouldn't doing the right thing be relatively high on your agenda?
PEACE
Crispy
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