Pope Francis was ‘disgusted’ by abuse in Ireland

People queue to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis. Picture: Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP

A clerical abuse survivor has spoken of how Pope Francis put his hands to his head and shook it in disgust when she told him about mother and baby homes and other abuses when the pontiff visited Ireland.

Clodagh Malone, who was born in St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home, was one of eight people who had a private 90-minute meeting with the Pope on the eve of his open-air Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park in August 2018.

The meeting took place in the papal nuncio’s house, with Ms Malone the first to speak. 

She said: “I wanted to talk about the mother and baby homes and the abuse. We all know the badness that went on in the Catholic Church, the Pope knew it. 

Clodagh Malone, a survivor of St Patrick's mother and baby home, meeting Pope Francis in Dublin during his visit to Ireland in 2018. 

"He was calm and not shocked.”

Ms Malone said she was “astounded” by his caring manner. 

"He was very kind," she said.

I told him those women were in hiding, carrying a secret they could not share. 

Ms Malone said she wanted to emphasise the abuse inflicted on innocent lives. 

“When the interpreter translated what I was saying about the abuse, Pope Francis took a piece of paper, drew a picture of a toilet, pointed to it, and said ‘caca’ — basically, he said that this [the abuse] was ‘shit’.

“He put his hands to his head, shook his head, he was disgusted. 

"He knew these were not gentle places. That is why we were so long with him — he wanted to listen.”