MANILA, Philippines – “I stand before you as a survivor.”
In a penitential service on Wednesday, October 2 (Manila time), a sex abuse survivor, whose name was not disclosed, told his story in front of Pope Francis. The service took place at the heart of the Vatican, Saint Peter’s Basilica, ahead of a historic gathering called the Synod on Synodality.
“Far from Rome,” the survivor recalled, “in a small town in Southern Africa, a predator honed in on me, an 11-year-old child.” He said the abuser “used praise, physical punishment, psychological manipulation, and all the other tools in his arsenal to manipulate and groom me.”
“Finally, on a beautiful South African morning, he led me by the hand to a dark place where he closed the curtains, and in the screaming silence he took from me that which should never be taken from a child,” he said.
Such abuse scandals, he pointed out, “have shaken the faith of millions and tarnished the reputation of an institution that many look to for guidance.”
The Pope and seven other cardinals, in the same penitential service, apologized for sex abuse and other sins of the Catholic Church. “We ask forgiveness, feeling ashamed, from those who have been hurt by our sins,” said Francis.
Watch the survivor’s video at the topmost portion of this page. – Paterno R. Esmaquel II/Rappler.com
