Pope Francis, who is of Argentinean origin, was on a whirlwind tour of South America in the past few days. Whilst most of it went by without a hiccup, the pontiff shocked many a few days ago in Chile, on January 18th to be exact, when asked what he thought about the abuse allegedly perpetrated by his former mentor, Father Fernando Karadima. The priest was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance by the Vatican after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.
In a very out of character response, the Pope had stated: "The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I will speak. There is not one piece of evidence against him. It is calumny. Is that clear?"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pope Francis issues something rare for a pontiff: an apology for his own actions. Francis has apologized for insisting that victims of pedophile priests show 'proof' in order to be believed; details from Thursday: <a href="https://t.co/KadJ4ZEq7z">https://t.co/KadJ4ZEq7z</a></p>— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/955468592384040960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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As his South American tour is now finishing, the pontiff reflected on the voyage, as he always does on his return flight to Rome, with reporters on his plane. In doing so, he admitted that he had made a terrible mistake and his words would have certainly implied that victims' accusations are credible only with concrete proof.
In detail, Pope Francis stated: "to hear that the pope says to their face, 'Bring me a letter with proof,' is a slap in the face."
"Of course, I know that there are many abused people who cannot bring proof (or) they don't have it,"
"Or at times they have it but they are ashamed and cover it up and suffer in silence. The tragedy of the abused is tremendous."
He did state that his beliefs were still firmly behind his aforementioned defense of Bishop Barros, as he was "personally convinced" of the bishop's innocence.
Pope Francis reiterated that while "covering up abuse is an abuse in itself."
"I would be committing the crime of a bad judge."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breaking: <br>"I must ask pardon": Pope Francis asks forgiveness from sexual abuse victims but reaffirms support for Bishop Barros <a href="https://t.co/pwCI73oKfm">https://t.co/pwCI73oKfm</a></p>— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/955456217144594432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The head of the Catholic church also addressed the scandal-plagued Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement based in Peru, on the flight back with reporters, saying that the movement's founder, Luis Fernando Figari had " declared himself innocent of the charges against him."
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The Catholics have buried the assaults on children for as long as I have been alive. Even the Pope is ok with the abuses. SAD!!!!!