Paris: In response to the sexual abuse of children by French Catholic clergy, Pope Francis on Wednesday expressed his "shame" at the devastating report this week.
The pope issued a statement through his spokesperson on Tuesday expressing his sorrow for the victims but went further in a personal message delivered during his weekly general audience at the Vatican.
"I wish to express to the victims my sadness and pain for the trauma they have suffered. And also my shame, our shame, my shame for the inability of the Church for too long to put them at the center of its concerns," the pontiff said in his general audience, according to the AFP report.
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"I pray and we all pray together -- to you Lord the glory, to us the shame. This is the time for shame."
While urging the clergy to work towards ensuring that such situations "are not repeated", Francis offered support to French priests to face up to "this trial that is hard but healthy". Besides, Francis also asked French Catholics to "assume their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all".
In a hard-hitting report, an independent commission had revealed that French Catholic clergy sexually abused around 216,000 minors over seven decades since 1950, a "massive phenomenon" that was covered up by a "veil of silence", according to Reuters.
Most of the victims were boys from 10 and 13 years. The two-and-a-half-year inquiry and 2,500-page report caused outrage with the Catholic Church in France other countries face a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions. The authors of the report mentioned that the Catholic Church turned a blind eye to the 'scourge' for too long.
The church had shown "deep, total and even cruel indifference for years," protecting itself rather than the victims of what was systemic abuse, said Jean-Marc Sauve, head of the commission that compiled the report.