Despite being praised for an “important” letter to US bishops in February which called on them to resist “narratives that discriminate” against refugees, the Pope’s address given in Dublin on clerical abuse scandals was called “disappointing” by one abuse survivor.
The pontiff visited Ireland for two days in August 2018, which included a visit to Knock shrine in Co Mayo, a meeting with victims of clerical abuse, and a visit to a homeless centre run by the Capuchin Fathers.
The visit culminated in an open air Sunday Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where pilgrims’ attendance was a fraction of the million people who greeted Pope John Paul II at the same spot in 1979.
Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland (PA)
The legacy of church abuse cast a long shadow over the Pope’s Irish visit, during which he addressed a litany of crimes by its institutions and members.
During the Phoenix Park Mass, he asked for “forgiveness for the abuses in Ireland” and for “pardon for all the abuses committed in various types of institutions”.
The visit prompted several demonstrations, including at a mass grave of infants at a former home for unmarried mothers in Co Galway, and at the Garden of Remembrances in Dublin.
Colm O’Gorman, a survivor of clerical abuse and the former head of Amnesty International Ireland, organised the rally at the Garden of Remembrance to coincide with the Phoenix Park Mass.
He said that it was initially dismissed that the Pope would address a series of abuse and mistreatment scandals by the Catholic Church, which he said would have been “completely unacceptable”.
“People were contacting me saying it’s really upsetting to think that that’s all happening and there’s no space for this to be acknowledged,” he told the PA news agency.
“This was not about protest, it’s just about standing in solidarity with people who have been impacted or...
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