The pontiff meets with five survivors and is ‘profoundly sorry’ but advocates say pledge is not enough after years of ‘crimes and sins’

Pope Francis has met victims of Catholic church sex abuse and vowed that those responsible will face justice, providing a sombre start to the last day of his visit to the United States.

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The pontiff met five victims, now adults, in a private meeting on Sunday morning before starting public engagements in Philadelphia, which was gearing up for a huge, farewell mass.



“I hold the stories and the suffering and the sorry of children who were sexually abused by priests deep in my heart,” Francis said, speaking to a gathering of priests and bishops at St Charles Borromeo seminary.

“I remain overwhelmed with shame that men entrusted with the tender care of children violated these little ones and caused grievous harm. I am profoundly sorry. God weeps.”

Speaking Spanish in unscripted remarks made before a formal address, he continued: “The crimes and sins of the sexual abuse of children must no longer be held in secret. I pledge the zealous vigilance of the church to protect children and the promise of accountability for all.”

Abuse survivors have become true heralds of hope and ministers of mercy, said Francis. “We humbly owe each one of you and your families our gratitude for your immense courage to shine the light of Christ on the evil of the sexual abuse of children.”

Pilgrims gathering in Philadelphia, which is ringed by huge security, watched on Jumbotron screens under cool, autumn skies. Up to one million people attended the afternoon mass before the pope’s chartered Alitalia plane, informally known as Shepherd One, was due to return him to Rome.

Francis has already issued an apology for the Catholic church’s inadequate response to the crisis, but meeting them in the US is significant because it represents the first time the Argentinian pontiff has met with victims outside of Rome, where he has done so once before. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, then Jorge Bergoglio was sometimes criticized for not being as attentive to the unfolding sex abuse storm as lawyers and victim advocates wanted him to be.

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Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, said in a statement the victims had been abused by the clergy or by members of their families or their teachers. “The group consisted of five adults – three women, two men – who have suffered abuse when they were minors. Each person was accompanied by a family member or support person.”

The pope spoke with them, listened to their stories as a group, and later with each one individually.

“He then prayed with them and expressed his solidarity in sharing their suffering, as well as his own pain and shame especially in the case of injury caused them by clergy or church workers,” said Lombardi. The pope reiterated the church’s commitment to hear all victims and deliver justice – that “the guilty be punished and crimes of abuse be combated with an effective prevention program in the church and in society”, said the spokesman.

“The pope thanked the victims for their essential contribution to restore the truth and begin the journey of healing. The meeting lasted about half an hour and ended with the blessing of the Holy Father.”

The group was accompanied by Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and chair of a commission set up by the pope to protect minors. Charles Chaput, the archbishop of Philadelphia, and bishop Fitzgerald, head of the Philadelphia diocese’s office for the protection of minors, also attended.

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The meeting had not been published on Francis’s itinerary but had been widely expected during his first US visit since the legacy of sex abuse and cover-ups continues to haunt the church – and victims.

The issue has hovered over an otherwise triumphant visit that has taken in the White House, Congress, the United Nations and Madison Square Garden.

Francis struggled to balance a desire to raise the spirits of clergy drained by decades of revelations, lawsuits and criticism with the pain of victims, many of whom feel they never received justice.

In Washington, he commended the “courage” of bishops gathered at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle. “I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims – in the knowledge that in healing we, too, are healed – and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated.”

He struck a similar tone in New York, telling clerics that many had had to “bear the shame of some of your brothers who harmed and scandalized the church”.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap), an advocacy group, accused Francis of rubbing salt in wounds. “An innovator in other ways, this pope is a throwback on sexual violence. He talks and acts like the church hierarchy is the real victim in this crisis.”

In advance of Sunday’s meeting with victims, the group said such an encounter would not suffice.