Currents News Staff

As part of our team coverage of the groundbreaking summit on abuse, and to further explain what it’s impact will be we are joined by Father Sam Sawyer, Executive Editor of America Magazine.

Currents News Staff

Behind the scenes, the Pope is meeting with survivors in Rome for the summit on abuse and we’re learning details of one encounter that was visibly emotional.

An abuse survivor from Poland met the Holy Father and Francis kissed his hand.

Then the man, Marek Mielewczyk, showed the pope a childhood photo of when he was being abused.

Mielewczyk later spoke about the meeting, saying “I said I’m a child abuse victim from Poland in Spanish, and I was holding my photo the photo of me as a teenager. The Pope took my hand in his hands, he looked at me and I could see was teary eyed.”

Survivors like Mielewczyk say they re-live their trauma every time they share their stories and hope this historic meeting brings about change.

Currents News Staff

On Summit day two, survivors are not speaking about what is going on inside the Synod Hall, but rather what forever haunts them in their memories.

Horrific stories of abuse being told in Rome. These victims gathered with photos of themselves as children to share their abuse stories.

For many, the emotions couldn’t be contained as memories and anger were vocalized on Friday afternoon.

“Nobody from the Vatican reached out. Nobody from the archdiocese of my country reached out to talk to me or anyone, or even help me,” said Juan Baya from Ecuador.

There were victims from New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland just to name a few.

“This is the priest who abused me for 12 years. I didn’t realize until about six years ago, when I started to bring my disclosure forward and go to therapy that I had been singled out as his pet lamb. Lamb led to the slaughter,” said Bernadette Howell from Ireland.

One victim from Newfoundland and Labrador, Gemma Hickey, is transgender and was abused as a young girl.

“When that priest was on top of me, and his cross was hitting off my chin, it was the only thing to focus on to take me out of what was happening,” said Gemma Hickey from Canada.

Dan Sherwood from the United States says he first shared his story of abuse, which began at age nine, just last week, before coming to Rome.

“We trusted him. When he was abusing me, he always said, ‘This is what a father does for his son.’ I never had a dad, so I didn’t know,” said Sherwood.

Now these survivors support each other through the tears and hugs. It was an emotional meeting that sought to unite past experiences with the justice being sought today as bishops from all over the world are here in Rome.

The group also encourages other survivors around the world to courageously share their stories, so abuse of children will remain a part of the past.

By Christopher White, The Tablet’s National Correspondent

ROME – After meeting with victims of sexual abuse on Friday, the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See affirmed its support of Pope Francis’ efforts to rid the Catholic Church of abuse.

“The United States unequivocally condemns the abuse and exploitation of children wherever it occurs and continues to support efforts to pursue justice and protect victims,” said Ambassador Callista Gingrich.

The meeting, which took place at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, marked the first time victims has met with U.S. state department officials since the explosion of the Church’s sexual abuse and cover-up crisis and comes at a time when over a dozen states are pursuing their own internal investigations into the Catholic Church’s handling of such cases and when rumors of a potential federal investigation are underway.

“Today I had the opportunity to meet with survivors of clerical sexual abuse in the United States and hear their personal stories,” said Gingrich. “The United States President Trump takes this issue very seriously and has expressed his sadness at the allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The United States Embassy to the Holy See has engaged senior Vatican officials on this matter and will continue to do so.”

Friday’s meeting came at the initiation of the survivors advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse and comes during Pope Francis’ historic meeting with bishops from around the world over the global crisis of clergy sex abuse.

In attendance were survivors of clergy abuse and activists, among them Peter Isely, a founding member of the organization and its spokesman.

Following the meeting, Isely described it to The Tablet as “historic” and said it marked a critical turning point between relations between survivors and the U.S. government.

“We’re hoping this is the beginning our relationship,” he said.

During the meeting, he said they discussed the ways in which state sovereignty is used by the Vatican and around the world to cover-up child sex crimes.

Isely said that Gingrich told him that the U.S. embassy is discussing this matter with the Vatican, which he viewed as a positive step forward.

“Victims in the U.S. have no idea what our government is doing on this issue,” he said.

He also said the Gingrich pledged to serve as a liaison between victims from the United States and officials from the Department of Justice who may be investigating cases of sexual abuse and cover-up.

He also said that he hoped that the various ambassadors to the Holy See could work together brining information from their respective countries to help educate the Vatican on the global crisis of clergy abuse.

“Victims need to hear that you’re behind us,” Isely said he told Gingrich before leaving the meeting. “We’re U.S. citizens and our basic rights as citizen were violated.”