Pope Francis “begged for God’s forgiveness” yesterday for multiple abuse scandals within the Irish church but faced accusations by a former Vatican official that he had personally ignored allegations against senior clergy.
In front of 45,000 supporters at the rain-soaked Knock shrine in the west of Ireland, the Pope sought forgiveness over the “open wound” of the church’s sexual abuse scandal and demanded “firm and decisive” measures to find “truth and justice”.
At a later Mass to tens of thousands of flag-waving worshippers at Dublin’s Phoenix Park, the showpiece event of the two-day visit to the former Catholic stronghold, he also confessed to other abuses by the Irish church, including at its so-called “mother and baby” homes.
However, in the city centre around 5,000 abuse victims and their supporters braved the weather to attend the “Stand for Truth” rally.
“It (the visit) has been very, very painful,” said Graham Mills, 52, who was sexually abused as a child by a member of the Christian brothers religious order and travelled from Northern Ireland to join the protest. “I think Pope Francis is probably a very decent human being. But yesterday I was very disturbed by the big celebration for him knowing the lives that have been destroyed.”
Grammy Award-nominated Irish singer Hozier performed his hit Take Me To Church as abuse survivors addressed the crowd who were then asked to walk in silence to the last of Ireland’s former notorious Magdalene laundries that remains standing.
A woman dressed as a nun, with fake blood on her hands, and a man handing out homemade placards reading “the church protects pederasts” were among those protesting.
“I think it’s obviously causing quite a lot of distress,” abuse victim and campaigner William Gorry said of the visit.
“Healing is something that’s going to take a long, long time if it’s going to happen at all,” he told AFP.
The scandal has dogged the visit, and intensified overnight when a former Vatican envoy to the US accused Francis of personally ignoring sexual abuse claims against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was forced to resign last month.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote in a letter published in the National Catholic Register that he had told Francis of the allegations in 2013, but that he had responded by lifting sanctions imposed on McCarrick by predecessor pope Benedict.
“He (Pope Francis) knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator,” wrote Vigano, adding: “He knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end.”
The Vatican said it had no comment to make on the claims.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Saturday directly urged the Pope to take action against abuses and ensure justice for victims worldwide.
“Holy Father, I ask that you use your office and influence to ensure that this is done here in Ireland and across the world,” he said, calling the scandals a “stain” on the church and state.
Francis wrote an unprecedented letter to all Catholics last week, asking each one of them to help root out “this culture of death” and vowing there would be no more cover-ups.
Some who turned out on the misty morning in Knock, where a group of locals in 1879 said they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary, said that Francis should be given time to deal with the abuse issues that have rocked the church for decades.
“People have to give this man a chance, he’s trying his best,” said Carmel Lane, who travelled from County Longford in the midlands.
The Pope met eight abuse victims on Saturday, including a woman assaulted by a priest when she was in hospital aged 13.
Paul Jude Redmond, who was illegally adopted from a church-run “mother and baby home” because his mother was unmarried, also met the Pope.
He said the Pontiff appeared “genuinely shocked” by the stories of abuse.
Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Coveney, also said Francis’ promise of decisive action on abuse was very welcome, but told broadcaster RTE that “people will clearly be watching now after this visit to see what actions follow”.
However, at a news conference in Dublin on Saturday by the group Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), victim Mark Vincent Healey said that the Pope’s speech in Dublin was a “total missed opportunity”.
“We’re still waiting. We’re left with uncertain silence. When is he going to act? What is he going to do?”
The Pontiff is in Ireland to close the 2018 World Meeting of Families (WMOF) – a global Catholic gathering that addressed issues, including the treatment of gay people in the church.
It is the first papal visit to Ireland since John Paul II spoke in front of 1.5mn people during a visit in 1979.
The church’s role and standing has been badly dented by the abuse scandals and the Irish have shed traditional Catholic mores, voting earlier this year to legalise abortion after approving same-sex marriage in 2015.
In Tuam, a town in western Ireland not far from Knock, hundreds joined in a silent vigil yesterday in solidarity with victims of the “mother and baby” homes – institutions that are accused of being punishment hostels for unwed pregnant women.
“Significant quantities” of baby remains found in makeshift graves at the site of one such home in Tuam last year shocked the country.
“My mother’s baby died in there at six-years-old, it’s an obscenity. We’re standing on a place where unburied babies, 796 of them, are in a septic tank,” said Annette McKay, 64, who travelled from Britain for the vigil in Tuam. “Your (Francis’) church did this to 796 innocent children and their mothers. Tell me how you are going to change this.”
Multiple probes in Ireland have found that church leaders protected hundreds of predatory priests, and former Irish president Mary McAleese revealed this month that the Vatican had sought to keep church documents inaccessible to government investigators.
The abuse scandals in Ireland are part of a worldwide crisis for the Vatican.
A devastating report earlier this month accused more than 300 priests in the US state of Pennsylvania of abusing more than 1,000 children since the 1950s.
The Pope was due to head back to Rome later in the day.