The Catholic Church must treat cases of sexual assault with “zero tolerance”, reaffirmed Pope Francis, who called them “monstrosity”, according to excerpts from an interview with a Portuguese television channel.
“It is very clear. It is zero tolerance. A priest cannot continue to be a priest if he is an aggressor. He cannot because he is sick or a criminal,” the Pope said during this interview with TVI/CNN Portugal, from which excerpts were taken. . were posted on the channel’s website.
“It’s monstrous, because it destroys lives,” he added in this two-part interview that will air Sunday and Monday nights.
“I do not deny the abuse”
Like France, an independent commission, whose work began at the beginning of the year, is charged with investigating sexual assaults within the Church in Portugal, a country with a strong Catholic tradition.
Cette commission, created by the initiative of the Church, to collect that 400 complaints, dont 17 ont été communiqués à la justice, a récemment indicated Pedro Stretch, le pedopsychiatre who directs the groupe de travail dont les conclusions doivent être présentées à la fin of the year.
“I do not deny the abuse. A single abuse would already be monstrous”, the Pope acknowledged in this interview on Portuguese television.
The Pope also indicated that he intended to go to Portugal during the next World Youth Days, a world meeting of young Catholics that will take place from August 1 to 6, 2023. “I am thinking of going there. will go,” he said. Initially scheduled for August 2022, WYD had been postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: BFM TV
