Pope Francis regularly meets with victims of sexual abuse, the Vatican has confirmed, after a record was released of a conversation the pope had with Jesuits in Peru in which he revealed he holds the meetings with survivors on Fridays.
The Vatican's head of press, Greg Burke, said today: 'I can confirm that several times a month, the Holy Father meets victims of sexual abuse both individually and in groups. Pope Francis listens to the victims and tries to help them heal the serious wounds caused by the abuse they've suffered. The meetings take place with maximum reserve out of respect for the victims and their suffering.'
In the account of his conversation with Peruvian Jesuits which took place on January 19 and was also released today, Francis said that when it comes to sexual abuse, statistics show that roughly '70 per cent of paedophiles are in the family environment, acquaintances. Then in gyms, at the pool...The percentage of paedophiles that are Catholic priests doesn't reach 2 per cent, it's around 1.6 per cent. So it's not a lot.'
However, the pope stressed that 'it's terrible even if it were just one of our brothers!
'God anointed them for the sanctification of children and adults, and he, instead of sanctifying them, has destroyed them. It's horrible!'
Pope Francis said of victims, 'their process is so difficult, they are annihilated. They are annihilated!'
For the church, he said, abuse is 'a great humiliation...It shows not only our fragility, but also, let's say it clearly, our level of hypocrisy.'
The conversations were published in the Jesuit journal La Civilta' Cattolica.
The pope's comments have been made public as he is under fire for his reaction to accusations of abuse cover-up on the part of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Chile.
Having been appointed to head the Osorno diocese by Pope Francis in 2015, Barros is accused of witnessing and covering up the abuse of his friend Fr Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty of abuse in 2011. Barros has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Pope Francis faced a backlash during his recent visit to Chile for saying that the accusations were 'calumny'.
Francis then sent Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, the Vatican's senior representatives in clerical abuse appeals cases, to visit Santiago to hear victims' testimonies as well as stop in New York to meet with one of Karadima's most high-profile victims and critics, Juan Carlos Cruz.
It has emerged that in 2015 Cruz had sent an eight-page letter detailing Karadima's abuse to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Members of the commission had reportedly given the letter to the commission's president, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who is said to have presented it to the pope.
