At the Vatican, a historic summit on clerical sex abuse has entered its second day. On Thursday, Pope Francis called on bishops to “listen to the screams of the little ones asking for justice.” The summit takes place just days after the pope defrocked U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, after the Vatican found him guilty of sex crimes against children and adults. McCarrick was once considered the most powerful Catholic leader in the United States. On Thursday, the Archbishop of Manila Luis Tagle spoke at the Vatican summit.
Archbishop Luis Tagle: “Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve.”
Meanwhile, survivors of clerical abuse have been holding their own gatherings in Rome. This is Tim Lennon, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Tim Lennon: “I was raped and abused by my parish priest when I was 12 years old. At the time, I froze, didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything. I was molested for several months and violently raped. I buried the memories for 30 years, or some memories for 30 years. And it was only when other survivors, other advocates, stood in front of a church and said, 'There should be no more clergy abuse,' and I said, 'That happened to me.' And that was my first realization of my abuse, that, yes, this happened to me, as well.”