Pope meets church sex abuse victims

Pope Benedict XVI has held a surprise meeting with several victims of clerical sexual abuse during his six-day visit to the US.The country has been rocked by a sex abuse scandal, which has claimed thousands of victims and cost the church more than $2 billion (£1bn) since 1950.Three of the victims later praised the pontiff for receiving them and speaking frankly about the scandal.The Pope also spoken out about the scandal at a public mass in Washington where over 40,000 people gathered to hear him speak from an altar in the middle of the recently inaugurated baseball stadium at Nationals Park.The pontiff said "indescribable pain and harm" had been caused to victims, but asked Catholics to love their pastors.He said: "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse."He added that efforts must continue to provide "loving pastoral attention" to those who suffered from the abuse.The Pope also said there were worrying signs of social breakdown."We see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society, signs of alienation and polarisation on the part of many of our contemporaries, increased violence, a weakening of the moral sense, a coarsening of social relations, and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God."The mass, which was broadcast live across America, attracted controversy after Sikhs refused to attend when the US secret service insisted ceremonial daggers would not be allowed inside the stadium as part of a huge security operation.On Friday, Pope Benedict will addresses the United Nations in New York where he is expected to assail the notion that "might makes right" and focus mostly on general issues of peace and human rights.The Vatican's permanent observer at the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, said the pope would not have time to discuss crises around the world in detail."But surely, coming to the UN as a pilgrim of peace, he will say that we cannot base our relations on the false notion that might makes right, that we cannot build our future on a simple balance of power," he said last week."No, our future must be based on respect for universal truths and our common humanity."Later, Pope Benedict will attend an ecumenical prayer service with 250 Protestant and Orthodox Christians at a church on Manhattan's Upper East Side originally founded by German immigrants.

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ITN | April 18, 2008

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