Pope Francis Meets With Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse in Portugal

Pope Francis has met with survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy in Portugal, six months after a landmark report concluded that the country’s Catholic hierarchy had abused thousands of children since 1950.

The Vatican said Francis met privately with 13 abuse victims for more than an hour in Lisbon Wednesday, the first day of his five-day trip to attend a gathering of the world’s young Catholics.

Addressing the clergy at Lisbon’s Jeronimos Monastery, the pope said the abuse scandals had “marred” the Church and triggered both “disappointment and anger.”

It was critical, he said, to acknowledge “the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to.”

Earlier, a giant billboard highlighting sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen was erected in Lisbon, hours before the Pope touched down in the Portuguese capital.

The billboard highlighted the “4,800+ children abused by the Catholic Church in Portugal,” a reference to a recent report by a Portuguese commission which said that at least 4,815 minors were sexually abused by clergy over seven decades.

The report was damning: it concluded that the Church leadership had “systematically” worked to hide the abuse.

The Vatican said the Pope had met the victims at the Holy See’s embassy in Lisbon, where the pontiff is staying.

“The meeting was held in an atmosphere of intense listening and lasted more than an hour,” it added.