James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz, and José Andrés Murillo After meeting Pope Francis three survivors of clergy sexual abuse from Chile said they felt they had been heard, and were hopeful for changes in how the Church handles accusations of abuse.
“I spoke for more than two and a half hours alone with Pope Francis. He listened to me with great respect, affection and closeness, like a father. We talked about many subjects. Today, I have more hope in the future of our Church. Even though the task is enormous,” Juan Carlos Cruz tweeted after meeting the Pope.
Pope Francis invited Cruz, James Hamilton and Jose Andres Murillo to stay at the Domus Sanctae Marthae to meet him individually.
Although the three survivors tweeted after their private meetings, Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, said Pope Francis “expressly wished” that no official statements would be released by the Vatican regarding his discussions with the survivors.
“His priority is to listen to the victims, ask their forgiveness and respect the confidentiality of these talks,” Burke said in a statement. “In this climate of trust and reparation for suffering, the desire of Pope Francis is to allow his guests to speak as long as necessary, in a way that there is no set timetable or pre-established content.”
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In a tweet sent after his meeting, Murillo said he spoke with Pope Francis for two hours and that “in a respectful and frank way, I expressed the importance of understanding abuse as an abuse of power, of the need to assume responsibility, of care and not just forgiveness.”
Hamilton sent two tweets on April 28 shortly after his meeting with the Pope, saying that it lasted a “little over two hours” and that it was “sincere, welcoming and enormously constructive”.
The Chilean survivors have alleged that Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno – then a priest – had witnessed their abuse by his mentor, Fr Fernando Karadima. In 2011, Fr Karadima was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance by the Vatican after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.
Although he initially defended his 2015 appointment of Bishop Barros as head of the Diocese of Osorno, Pope Francis apologised after receiving a 2,300-page report from a trusted investigator he sent to Chile to listen to people with information about the bishop.