Victims of pederasty in the Portuguese Catholic Church yesterday thanked Pope Francis for the support of the World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon to denounce the abuses and meet with a group of 13 affected, while denouncing the "censorship wild” of authorities in Portugal.
António Grosso, one of the promoters of Coração Silenciado - the only association of victims of Church abuse in Portugal - celebrated in statements to the Efe agency that the Pope had publicly spoken out against sexual violence in the institution.
On Wednesday, Francis asked the Portuguese clergy for "a humble and constant purification" in relation to the scandal of child abuse and that the victims "are always welcomed and listened to".
At the end of his first day in Lisbon, the Pope privately received 13 victims of abuse in the Church representing the more than 4,800 minors who, according to an independent investigation, suffered abuse in Portugal over the past 70 years.
Grosso considered that "the Pope had the obligation" to speak about this, "consistently with the campaign he has made", to "warn this global youth that is present in Lisbon not to allow themselves to be manipulated by the abusers within the Church, let them denounce them".
At the meeting, according to Grosso, they gave the Pontiff a dossier with testimonies from three members of the association and reports on the "unworthy" response of the Portuguese Church to the dimension of pederasty in the institution.
In a decision that raised harsh criticism in Portugal, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) left the action on chaplains identified for abuse in the hands of the bishops. As a result, about fifteen were removed from office, but some have resumed their activity.
António Grosso also condemned the decision of the Oeiras City Council – in the metropolitan area of Lisbon – to remove one of the giant posters distributed around the city denouncing the existence of these more than 4,800 victims.
"It was an absolutely reprehensible censorship, criticizable, it was a wild censorship, because a poster placed in a public space can only be removed by the person who put it up after a warning", denounced Grosso.
During yesterday's day, Francesc continued to meet with young people, this time with 15 Ukrainian pilgrims whom he received privately to talk about the war in their country.
Francis received them at the nunciature in Lisbon and after listening to their moving stories addressed them a few words to "express his closeness, painful and prayerful", reported the Vatican. When the meeting ended, which lasted about 30 minutes, "the Pope and the boys prayed together a parenostre, with their thoughts on the tormented Ukraine".
WYD is celebrated from August 1 to 6 in Lisbon and its metropolitan area, and has attracted close to a million faithful, according to the organization. The ceremonies are led by Pope Francis, who arrived in the city on Wednesday and will be in Portugal until Sunday.
