A group of abuse victims from Munich who embarked on a bicycle pilgrimage from Munich to Rome together with friends and relatives completed their tour and met Pope Francis today.
In a short meeting after the general audience, the Pope seemed very empathetic and human and spoke to them in German, Richard Kick from the victims’ advisory board of the archdiocese of Munich-Freising told Germany’s Catholic News Agency KNA.
When asked about the reappraisal of sexual abuse in the Church and how to deal with offenders, the Pope had answered with a repeated “It is very difficult”.
The group handed Francis items including a letter with their demands on how to deal with abuse in the Catholic Church. “We expect you to do everything in your power to ensure that in all corners of the Universal Church the issue of sexual as well as spiritual abuse is seen, reappraised and stopped by appropriate preventive measures,” it stated.
They also appealed to the Pope to “set a clear sign also towards perpetrators and bishops who have not fulfilled their responsibility and in part still fail to do so today”.
The group covered a total of 715 kilometres in 10 days and arrived in Rome on Tuesday evening.
Originally reported by KNA Germany.
