Lisbon, Aug 4 (EFE).- Halfway through the Pope’s visit to Portugal, a mayor from the outskirts of Lisbon has placed himself in the eye of the hurricane after removing a poster in tribute to the victims of abuses in the Church that , in the midst of criticism, has been placed again, although in a less visible place.
Isaltino Moraes, mayor of Oeiras, ordered the removal of a giant poster with the message “More than 4,800 children were abused by the Catholic Church in Portugal”, in English, and accompanied by 4,800 red dots representing each of the victims.
The one installed on Paseo de Alges, in Oeiras, -a high-end residential area near Lisbon- was one of the posters dotted around the capital coinciding with the visit of the Pope, who arrived in Portugal on Tuesday for World Day of Youth (WYD).
Moraes’s decision, which the municipality justified by arguing that it was illegal advertising, was harshly criticized by the victims and by civil organizations.
In the midst of the storm, the mayor -conservative- has had to rectify and, during the early morning, the poster has been installed again but in a less visible area of the municipality.
In its place, an area through which the pontiff will pass on Sunday, on his last day in Lisbon, a giant sign welcoming the pope has been erected today.
The giant panels in tribute to the victims are the result of a fundraising campaign as part of a project dubbed “This is our memorial” (This is our memorial), which has distributed hundreds of smaller posters in Lisbon and its area metropolitan.
The Patriarch Cardinal of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, affirmed this week that he respects the right to protest during WYD, although the Portuguese Public Security Police announced that “offensive messages” will be prohibited.
The controversial decision of the municipality contrasts with the attitude of Pope Francis who, at the end of his first day in Lisbon, received a group of 13 victims of abuse in private.
VICTIMS MOVED WITH THE POPE
It was a reserved meeting, at the Nunciature, in which the victims gave the pope reports with testimonies of abused and expressed their criticism of the reaction of the Portuguese Church.
At the meeting, the Pope asked for “forgiveness with shame,” a victim who kept anonymity told the Expreso newspaper, but it was also a “restorative meeting,” according to Rute Agulhas, coordinator of the VITA group, which investigates cases of abuse.
Hours earlier, the pope spoke about the issue in his address to the clergy at the Jerónimos Monastery and asked the Church of Portugal for “a humble and constant purification” in relation to the scandal of child abuse and that the victims “be always welcomed and listened to”.
WYD is celebrated from August 1 to 6 in Lisbon and its metropolitan area and has attracted close to a million faithful, according to the organization. EFE
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