Pope Francis blasts 'scandal' of clergy sex abuse in Portugal, meets with survivors
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00:00 Reconciling the Church and those abused by it.
00:03 That was the goal of Pope Francis' first day at the Catholic Church's World Youth Day Festival in Lisbon.
00:09 On Wednesday, he met with 13 survivors of the Portuguese clergy's sexual abuse
00:13 and condemned Portugal's Catholic Church leaders for the scandal.
00:17 He said their actions had helped drive the faithful away
00:20 and ordered members of the Catholic hierarchy to change their ways and treat victims better.
00:24 The scandals that have marred the Church call us to a humble and ongoing purification,
00:32 starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to.
00:37 The pontiff's trip comes as Portugal is reeling from a February report
00:43 commissioned by the country's bishops, in which it was revealed that over 4,800 boys and girls
00:49 may have been abused by priests and other Church personnel since 1950.
00:53 The response by Portugal's bishops to the expert findings, however,
00:57 revealed the clergy's difficulty in accepting accountability.
01:01 Prior to the report, Portuguese Church officials had insisted
01:04 there were only a handful of child sex abuse cases.
01:07 After the document's release, the bishops initially refused to remove named abusers from the ministry
01:12 and said they would only compensate victims if the courts ordered them to.
01:17 Among the visiting faithful and clergy, some are not ready to discuss the issue.
01:21 I don't think that this is the opportunity to talk about these things at this moment.
01:27 I am not prepared at all.
01:29 It's very sad that it's happening and it shouldn't,
01:32 but I also think that the mass media are mostly exaggerating what's happening.
01:39 In a statement, Portugal's Conference of Bishops said they are committed to putting the victims first
01:44 and working together with them on reparations and their recovery.