Pope Francis lashes out at Portugal’s Catholic hierarchy for ignoring clergy sexual abuse

The pope said that ignoring the clergy sexual abuse scandal for so long marred the Catholic Church and drove people away from it.

Transcript

00:00 Pope Francis has met survivors of clerical sexual abuse carried out in Portugal and blasted

00:07 the country's Catholic hierarchy for its response. Francis addressed the scandal on the first

00:14 day of a five-day visit to Lisbon for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day Festival.

00:21 "It is often accentuated by the disappointment or anger that some people feel in relation

00:28 to the Church. In some cases, by our bad testimony and by the scandals that have disfigured

00:35 their faces and that call for a constant, humble purification, starting with the cries

00:43 of pain of the victims, which more than ever have to be welcomed and heard."

00:49 After his address and away from the cameras, Francis spoke to 13 abuse victims for more

00:54 than an hour. The Pope's visit comes after a panel of experts hired by Portugal's bishops

01:00 reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abused thousands

01:04 of boys and girls since 1950. After the document's release, the bishops initially refused to

01:10 remove named abusers from their posts. This is Francis' fourth World Youth Day. The festival

01:17 was launched by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s to invigorate the church's younger members.

01:22 (whooshing)