Pope Francis Compares Paedophilia With ¡®Human Sacrifice,¡¯ Says Such Cases Will Be Treated With Utmost Seriousness

In the past disturbing claims of child abuse and sexual harassment of women by bishops inside Catholic Church have come to light. Most of these women who have come out have met with both supportive and dissenting voices. Yet, more and more such cases continue to come to limelight.

Earlier this month, A former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal was dismissed from the priesthood after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors. 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick, who was one of the prominent figures of the church has been defrocked.

He will no longer be permitted to act as a cleric, and is forbidden to celebrate the sacraments except to grant absolution for sins to a person close to death. Pope Francis was personally involved with the judgement of this case and has termed this action as ¡°definitive¡± which means that McCarrick will not be allowed to make an appeal.

Photo: AFP/4 day summit against clerical sexual abuse taking place at the Vatican, Rome.

On Sunday, Pope Francis vowed to tackle every single case of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church, AFP reported. He compared paedophilia to "human sacrifice" in a speech that left victims cold.

The firm statement was made by the Pope in a summit where more than 100 senior Roman Catholic Bishops gathered to address clerical sexual abuse. He further promised an ¡°all-out¡± battle against abusive priests though, he added that Church was not the only place where children were assaulted.

"If in the Church there should emerge even a single case of abuse - which already in itself represents an atrocity - that case will be faced with the utmost seriousness", Francis promised.

"I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas... for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth," he added.

Photo: AFP

He also said that widespread abuse of children was prevalent in all cultures and societies and he came down heavily on those priests who used children as ¡°tools of Satan.¡±

Calling paedophiles as ¡°ravenous wolves,¡± he said that children need to be protected from such scandals which have hit countries like Australia, U.S, Chile and Germany. The 82-year-old had warned victims to lower their expectations, saying much of the work would be done post-summit.

However, swiss victim said Jean-Marie Furbringer said that the summit was a waste of time and that it didn¡¯t put forward anything concrete. "Honestly it's a pastoral 'blabla', saying it's the fault of the devil".

Another victim said that there was no talk about excluding child rapists and abusers who are employees of the Church. "From a child protection point of view it's been a waste of time. From keeping the world's eyes on this institution and its failure to protect children, it's been a great success," said Britain¡¯s Peter Saunders.

Photo: AP/Front row from left, sex abuse survivors and members of ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse), Peter Isley, Denise Buchanan, Alessandro Battaglia, listen to Pope Francis speech just outside St. Peter

The Argentine said that the Church which is developing a legislation will focus on eight main aspects: protection of children, impeccable seriousness, genuine purification, formation, strengthening and reviewing guidelines by Episcopal Conferences and accompaniment of those who have been abused.

However, Francesco Zanardi, survivor and head of Italian victims' association Rete Abuso said that the Vatican had lost credibility. "We wanted to see measures, to see the bishops (guilty of protecting paedophile priests) named. Start by opening the Vatican archives, not by destroying documents. Start handing documents over to the civil authorities," he said.

In the past, the Vatican has refused to hand over internal documents about abuse cases to police investigating the paedophilia.