Pope Francis urged ‘to go beyond apologies’ over abuse cover-up

Pope Francis must agree to release all secret files on how the Church covered up child abuse since the early 1960s if he wants his historic meeting with victims to avoid being labelled a “tokenistic, box-ticking PR exercise”.

Survivor groups insisted on the commitment as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Vatican must introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse and cancel any statute of limitation on cases, warning that “words need to be followed up by actions”.

Speaking after the Vatican bowed to growing pressure for the Pope to meet survivors groups, One in Four chief executive Maeve Lewis and Amnesty International’s Colm O’Gorman told the Irish Examiner Francis cannot hide behind kind words.

Insisting real, concrete changes must be put forward if the meeting is to be of any value, they said the Pope needs to provide full transparency on the decades of abuse if the meeting is to be of use to those affected by what happened.

“I sincerely hope the Pope goes beyond apologies, I want him to promise mandatory reporting across the Church,” said Ms Lewis.

“If the Church truly intends to root out those involved, to root out the crime of sexual abuse, then they should also release the files.”

“I want canon law to be amended so if any official, priest, bishop, or cardinal who shielded those involved, they should be dismissed from office. It [the meeting] can’t just be a PR exercise, there has to be concrete plans.”

Her comments were echoed by Mr O’Gorman, who said last night the Pope must provide full cover-up transparency by releasing “secret archived files” on clerical child abuse the Vatican has previously confirmed it has held on every known case since 1962.

He earlier told RTÉ Radio’s News At One that unless real reforms are offered, the meeting “looks like a box-ticking exercise so the Vatican can say the Pope prayed, cried, or wept with victims”.

Ms Lewis and Mr O’Gorman spoke out after Vatican confirmed the Pope will meet abuse survivors this weekend, and 24 hours after he wrote a rare public letter saying the abuse “atrocities” left children “abandoned”.

However, despite these steps, calls have been made for the Vatican to go further with concrete reforms, a view voiced by Mr Varadkar at an event to mark the end of Eid celebrations at the Clonskeagh mosque in Dublin yesterday.

“He said all the right things, but, as is always the case, words need to be followed up by actions,” said Mr Varadkar.

“A lot of institutions have a dark legacy of treating women and children and those most vulnerable very badly. And it’s not just the Catholic Church, the State doesn’t have a very good record in that regard either.

“I was thinking of the kind of things we’ve tried to do in recent years to make things better.

“Since last year, it is mandatory for people to report child sex abuse, or sex abuse, and also we’ve no statute of limitations when it comes to prosecution.

“While that may not be the law in every country in the world, I think it’s good practice, and perhaps it’s something the Church might consider. Just because it’s not the law in every country doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, the World Meeting of Families event — which was labelled a “right- wing rally” by former president Mary McAleese on Monday — began last night.

During a speech in Derry, Bishop Donal McKeown said the gospel “asks leaders to take the plank out of their own eyes” to see where the “uncomfortable truth lies”.

“I don’t want the World Meeting of Families and the visit of Pope Francis to strengthen the Church as an organisation. Power corrupts and nourishes arrogance,” he said.