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Pope: Church will protect young from abuse
Pontiff meets with victims following Mass to tens of thousands in Malta
VALLETTA, Malta - Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of clerical abuse victims on Sunday and promised them the church would do everything in its power to bring justice to victims and protect young people in the future.
The Vatican said Benedict expressed his shame and sorrow at the pain the men and their families suffered and prayed with them during the meeting at the Vatican's embassy in Malta.
It was the first time Benedict had met with abuse victims since the worldwide clerical abuse scandal engulfed the Vatican earlier this year.
"He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future," a Vatican statement said.
Benedict, on a trip to Malta overshadowed by the global crisis, also heard the island's leading bishop say on Sunday that the Catholic Church has to be humble enough to recognize its failures.
The pope, who turned 83 on Friday, met with the group after a celebrating a mass for tens of thousands of people in a dockside area built in the 17th century over underground grain silos.
He made no reference to the sexual abuse crisis before the meeting, telling priests only to "fulfill the mission you have received."
'Failures and sins in its members'
But Paul Cremona, the Archbishop of Malta, spoke directly about the abuse crisis which is sapping the church's credibility in Malta and beyond.
In his address to the pope at the start of the mass, Cremona spoke of the need for "a church humble enough to recognize the failures and sins in its members."
Cremona, with the pope listening on the same platform, also spoke of the need for "a Church which does not seek privileges."
It was the second time in as many days that someone addressing the pope mentioned the sexual-abuse crisis.
The overnight trip is the pope's first foreign travels since the full force of the scandals have rocked the church became apparent and threatened to engulf his papacy.
At his arrival on Saturday, Maltese President George Abela said priests sometimes "unfortunately go astray" and it was "the church and even the state's duty to work hand in hand" to prevent abuse and punish offenders "so that justice will not only be done but seen to be done."
Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him to Malta on Saturday, he said Roman Catholicism has been "wounded by our sins" but did not use the word "abuse".
Pope's connection to scandal
Hundreds of cases of sexual and physical abuse of youths in recent decades by priests have come to light in Europe and the United States as disclosures encourage long-silent victims to finally go public with their complaints.
Benedict has been accused by victims groups of being part of systematic practice of cover-up by church hierarchy for pedophile priests, in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the helm of the Vatican morals office.
In his sermon at the open-air mass, the pope also called on the overwhelmingly Catholic nation, where abortion and divorce are illegal, not to succumb to the secular influences.
"Not everything that today's world proposes is worthy of acceptance by the people of Malta," he said.
Pontiff meets with victims following Mass to tens of thousands in Malta
VALLETTA, Malta - Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of clerical abuse victims on Sunday and promised them the church would do everything in its power to bring justice to victims and protect young people in the future.
The Vatican said Benedict expressed his shame and sorrow at the pain the men and their families suffered and prayed with them during the meeting at the Vatican's embassy in Malta.
It was the first time Benedict had met with abuse victims since the worldwide clerical abuse scandal engulfed the Vatican earlier this year.
"He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future," a Vatican statement said.
Benedict, on a trip to Malta overshadowed by the global crisis, also heard the island's leading bishop say on Sunday that the Catholic Church has to be humble enough to recognize its failures.
The pope, who turned 83 on Friday, met with the group after a celebrating a mass for tens of thousands of people in a dockside area built in the 17th century over underground grain silos.
He made no reference to the sexual abuse crisis before the meeting, telling priests only to "fulfill the mission you have received."
'Failures and sins in its members'
But Paul Cremona, the Archbishop of Malta, spoke directly about the abuse crisis which is sapping the church's credibility in Malta and beyond.
In his address to the pope at the start of the mass, Cremona spoke of the need for "a church humble enough to recognize the failures and sins in its members."
Cremona, with the pope listening on the same platform, also spoke of the need for "a Church which does not seek privileges."
It was the second time in as many days that someone addressing the pope mentioned the sexual-abuse crisis.
The overnight trip is the pope's first foreign travels since the full force of the scandals have rocked the church became apparent and threatened to engulf his papacy.
At his arrival on Saturday, Maltese President George Abela said priests sometimes "unfortunately go astray" and it was "the church and even the state's duty to work hand in hand" to prevent abuse and punish offenders "so that justice will not only be done but seen to be done."
Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him to Malta on Saturday, he said Roman Catholicism has been "wounded by our sins" but did not use the word "abuse".
Pope's connection to scandal
Hundreds of cases of sexual and physical abuse of youths in recent decades by priests have come to light in Europe and the United States as disclosures encourage long-silent victims to finally go public with their complaints.
Benedict has been accused by victims groups of being part of systematic practice of cover-up by church hierarchy for pedophile priests, in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the helm of the Vatican morals office.
In his sermon at the open-air mass, the pope also called on the overwhelmingly Catholic nation, where abortion and divorce are illegal, not to succumb to the secular influences.
"Not everything that today's world proposes is worthy of acceptance by the people of Malta," he said.