Pope comments on Malta meeting with abuse victims
In an emotional and deeply moving meeting, eight out of 11 alleged child abuse victims met Pope Benedict XVI in an impromptu meeting that lasted around 35 minutes at the Apostolic Nunciature in Rabat last Sunday. One of the victims, Lawrence Grech said he finally was at peace after all these years. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Pope Benedict has commented publicly for the first time on his meeting last Sunday with Maltese victims of abuse by the clergy, saying he had 'shared their suffering' and he had assured them of Church action.
Pope Benedict made his comment during his weekly public audience in Rome this morning.
The Pope met the Maltese men for some 30 minutes at the Apostolic Nunciature after his Mass on the granaries. The victims later said it had been a 'healing experience'. The Holy See said it was a 'moving' meeting.
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G. Cutajar
Apr 23rd 2010, 13:03
@Peter Bonnici:I would but I don't trust anyone. I know of people who did but nothing materialised. In Maltese we have a saying...Kappell ma jmejjilx l-iehor.
Joe Xuereb
Apr 23rd 2010, 01:51
Now that the cat is out of the bag I get the feeling that the Church is behaving like a headless chicken. Trying ever so tentatively to make amends, appear to be full of remorse. I sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests had never come to light, I bet the Church would have continued to sweet these horrendous crimes under the carpet (meaning moving criminal priests to other pastures and hoping, vainly as it happened, that the issue would somehow disappear as if by magic. And the Church embraced omerta` because it knew full well the damage (ie the scandalous repercussions to its image and credibility). Claiming to have its own Response Team was just an appeasement. As we know. Let us hope that our legal system is not cowed into being too lenient 'because these are men of the cloth'. Because Malta may be a Western democracy aspiring to secularism to be in line with the rest of the civilised world. But I often wonder.
Priestly seminarians study much. Does it not occur to them that introducing 'adult' sexuality to an emotionally unprepared child sets up the child to a horrendous puberty and subsequent years.
Roderick Micallef
Apr 22nd 2010, 18:13
Moving meeting or not justice has not been done to this date and no church representative has been ever put to justice for the acts committed. That said, I am simply amazed at these so called victims because it seems that for them meeting the pope was enough. So now I am starting to doubt whether they really want justice to be done or whether it was just a game to seek attention.
If I was the victim, meeting the pope and praying with the pope would have surely not been enough. The victims said it was a 'healing experience'? Yeah right, can you tell us exactly how? Can you explain how did the church convince you so much? Did the church give some incentive to these victims?
This story is really not making any more sense, it's as if these people went to battle and came out of the battle cheering, crying and praying with their enemies (surely not the type of battles the crusaders fought in the name of god) . This tells me that something is not right, or there are details which are hidden from the public for the interest of the church and these victims!
EDWIN DE MARCO
Apr 22nd 2010, 12:12
"Judge ye not or ye shall be judged!" Not in Malta though. Some people keep thinking that God has a special soft spot for the Maltese. They're propbably soft in the head, imsieken!
"Min ser jitfa' l-ewwel gebla?" De Valette maghruf li qieghed l-ewwel gebla tal-Belt Valletta. Issa PIano ser izarma l-bieb tal-belt piano, piano. Ghas -somma fenominali ta': Euro1,200,000,!MALTA - DERIVATIONS: Enemalta..dlam cappa! AbbuzMalta - don't worry, the Pope is behind you! Camalta - servizz fil-pront! Hallina Malta! The only thing which does us proud is AirMalta, especially during these past week. Well done KM! On a more serious note. Some holier-than-the-Pope people keep persisting that they are allegations! If so, why did the Pope himself re-assure these victims that he would take action against these abuses? Stands to reason that he knows that they're true. Some cattolicissimi lay Maltese think that they represent the Church. In fact, these kind of people do more harm than good, trying to impress how goody-goody they are, sitting in the front rows in church...U halluna. Ipokriti! Viva l-Papa' & down with narrow-minded, intolerant people.......
Peter Bonnici
Apr 21st 2010, 23:17
@ G Cutajar. Instead of firing allegations, how about you get the facts and report them using the right channels. Or have you got none?
Joe Zammit
Apr 21st 2010, 22:54
Haven't you heard about the Vatican document on the steps the Church takes when she is faced with allegations of paedophile priests? Get informed by entering the Vatican website. Steps were taken in the past, but now harsher steps follow. The lesson is learnt.
ray sacco
Apr 23rd 2010, 21:19
@joe zammit:
documents, pastoral letters, ceremonies.............name them all! result........nothing! the people are fed up of bla bla bla! the people want justice! steps were taken in the past, you say? are we living on the same planet ? if we take malta, clergy members seem to be above the law! name ONE clergy member who have been brought to justice by the authorities! name just ONE clergy member on earth who have been handed over by the catholic church to the police! and who signed this document you are talking about? is it the same signiture which ended a letter saying it was reluctant to take any action against a proven paedophile priest? now that would be reliable!!!!!!!!!!
Anthony Pace
Apr 21st 2010, 22:52
I am a proud Catholic, but this is wayyyyyy too much. These people should be removed from this Earth for ever doing such horrid things. Damn them! They have only brought this country down even further.
William P Flynn
Apr 21st 2010, 22:23
@Mark Galea
Don't you see that it was what the priests were doing below the belt that hit the pope, the church and the Vatican between the eyes?
Shenanigans like this with priests and women have been going on since time immemorial.
We all know they happen. We all saw and heard things over the years.
But what happens between two adults is their business; so long as they don't climb up a pulpit and start telling other adults how to live their lives.
As to the pope’s visit, let's be kind and say perhaps 10% of the Maltese population turned out and involved itself with the pope's visit. 10% isn't "il-poplu Malti”. The other 400,000 would have known the pope was there, likely had a peek every now and then on the telly and went about their business.
That the entire Maltese nation is pro the church is and has always been a self serving myth.
G. Cutajar
Apr 21st 2010, 19:56
That's what these wayward clergy want to hear. People making excuses for them whilst they keep on doing what they're doing safe in the knowlege that nobody lis ready to lift a finger to investigate.
It seems that bygone lessons regarding paedophiles did not bear any fruit.
See you in twenty years time....hopefully.
james Galea
Apr 21st 2010, 21:24
G cutajar
Who are you to judge other by just of what you see. The church had and has a lot of enemies. Funnily enough most of them are like yourself that is its own members. Why don't you leave too. The church can keep all the sinners under its mantel but not the types like you who do not miss one chance to damage its reputation. Jesus himself blamed judas a lot for your type of comments that he refered about him. Don't need to remind you that you are batized, married by church sagrament, maybe have babtized children and hopfuly you wish to send them to a church school. but on the other hand you are doing it a lot of damage with your trigger happy keyboard.
Dr Francis Saliba
Apr 21st 2010, 21:52
@G.Cutajar
No one is "making excuses" for paedophile priests. No paedophile priest ever feels "safe in the knowlege that nobody is ready to lift a finger to investigate" . The plain truth is that unlike all others he is liable to be investigated twice, by the civil and also by the ecclesiastical authorites. Succesfully preventing all kinds of paedophiles from harming children is a tough proposition but that failure does not mean that civil and ecclesiatical society colludes in it.
ray sacco
Apr 22nd 2010, 23:33
@dr.francis saliba:
paedophile priests are liable to be investigated twice, you say!!!!!!!!! don't make us laugh! in this country paedophile priests can be investigated only by the response team, which is just a mechanism to cover up things and discourage the victims to take legal actions. ecclesiastical society does not collude in paedophile cases you say! of course not! knowing that a crime is being commited, knowing who the peretrator is and keeping both as a secret does not ammount to colluding for you! what is it than?
Peter Bonnici
Apr 21st 2010, 18:59
@ G Cutajar. Are the seperated women you speak of still in their early teens?
Joe Zammit
Apr 21st 2010, 22:56
They are over 80.
Mark Galea
Apr 21st 2010, 16:45
@G.Cutajar.....Your comment was obviously meant to hit the Church below the belt.
@ all those who hate the church and its representatives......il-poplu Malti taghkom risposta l-weekend li ghadda!
It is a fact that the snide remarks of the few are always heard above the silent prayers of the thousands of faithful.
Dr Francis Saliba
Apr 21st 2010, 16:24
@ GCutajar
If you knew the gospel you you would know that Christ hiself was criticised for keeping the company of publicans and sinners. You may be interested to discover for yourself his answer and to profit by it.
G. Cutajar
Apr 21st 2010, 15:00
Would the church take action on members of the clergy who are seen day in day out in the company of separated women dressed as normal men even without the little cruxifix on their shirt?
L Spiteri
Apr 21st 2010, 13:13
The full text of the Pope's comments on his visit to Malta can be found at:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100421_en.html