Pope Benedict XVI met victims of sexual abuse by clergy on the second day of his visit to his homeland, Germany, on Friday, an encounter that left him “deeply shaken,” Vatican officials said.
He also held joint prayers with members of the Protestant faith in Germany in a bid to build bridges between the two churches.
During a 30-minute meeting with abuse victims in Erfurt, the pope said he was “moved and deeply shaken by the sufferings of the victims,” the Vatican said. Church officials described the meeting as “very, very emotional.”
“The Holy Father expressed his deep compassion and regret over all that was done to them and their families,” a Vatican statement said.
The meeting had been keenly awaited during the 84-year-old pontiff’s visit to his homeland, which was rocked by revelations of widespread abuse over the last several decades.
“He assured the people present that those in positions of responsibility in the Church are seriously concerned to deal with all crimes of abuse and are committed to the promotion of effective measures for the protection of children and young people,” the statement said. “Pope Benedict XVI is close to the victims and he expresses the hope that the merciful God, Creator and Redeemer of all mankind, may heal the wounds of the victims and grant them inner peace.”
Hans Langendoerfer, the coordinator of the visit, said the pope met five victims of abuse, three men and two women.
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics had told reporters on Thursday on his flight to Germany that he sympathized with the thousands who had turned their backs on the church over the pedophile scandals.
The German Catholic Church was thrown into turmoil last year as hundreds came forward saying they were abused as minors between the 1950s and the 1980s amid allegations the crimes were swept under the carpet.
Over the past year, large-scale pedophilia scandals have rocked the Catholic Church in a number of countries, including Ireland, Austria, Belgium and the US.
Earlier on Friday, on the second leg of the tour, the pope held prayers with Protestant leaders in a show of greater Christian unity.
Benedict said the different wings of the Church should “keep in view just how much we have in common, not losing sight of it amid the pressure towards secularization — everything that makes us Christian in the first place and continues to be our gift and our task.”
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