Pope Francis reiterated “zero tolerance” in the face of the “tremendous plague” of cases of abuse by members of the Church, at the press conference on board the plane in which he returned from his trip to Lisbon to participate in the World Youth Day (WYD).
He also indicated that the bishops who have committed irresponsibility “will have to take care of it and we will see how.”
Francis responded at a press conference on cases of abuse in Portugal, where a recent report revealed that in 70 years there were up to 4,800 cases of minors abused by members of the Church.
He recalled that in a reserved way he met a group of victims in Lisbon during the trip and they discussed “about this tremendous plague of the Church.”
“It does me good to listen to the victims because it makes me take charge of this drama,” he said.
Although he observed that regarding the abuses in Portugal “the numbers have been increased by the comments” but that “what is the reality, the Church is handling it well” and that “this leaves him alone.”
Francisco wanted to recall that 42% of the abuse of minors occurs in the family environment and in the neighborhoods and they are covered up and “you have to mature so that they are discovered.”
The pope said that since the Church’s scandal broke out in Boston over clergy abuse “there came a time when people realized that random paths could not be taken” and that “everything had to be taken by the horns” and that since then “there is a phrase that is repeated that is zero tolerance.”
On the other hand, the Pope asked the media to pay attention to the crime of the dissemination of pedopornographic images and live abuse of minors on the Internet, “because in addition to abusing them, the victims are traded.”
And he stressed that in addition to sexual abuse there is also another type of abuse such as the work of minors or women or even in many countries female excision is practiced.
“There is a culture of abuse that needs to be reviewed and changed,” he said.
