Pope Francis on Friday said the
Church must be ashamed of the abuses committed against minors
and seek forgiveness while trying to solve the problem, during a
visit to Belgium where revelations of sexual abuse and cover-ups
have severely affected the credibility of the Catholic Church.
Abuses are a "shame which all of us today must take into our
hands and seek forgiveness", said the pontiff in a speech to
Belgian authorities in which he compared paedophiles in the
Catholic Church to Herod.
"The Church must be ashamed and seek forgiveness and try to
solve this situation" so "these things won't happen anymore",
Francis also noted.
The theme of paedophilia was introduced by King Philippe of
Belgium who addressed the pontiff acknowledging the
"intransigence" with which he had denounced the "unspeakable
tragedy of sexual abuse within the Church".
"Children were horribly wounded, marked for life.
"The same is true for victims of forced adoption", he noted in a
reference to a scandal regarding thousands of forced adoptions
by nuns between the 1950s and 1970s.
The king recognized efforts made by the Church but asked that
they continue to be "pursued with determination, relentlessly".
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