Pope asks for forgiveness over abuse, treatment of women in Catholic Church, ahead of Vatican summit

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Oct 1 led a prayer service asking for forgiveness over the failings of the Catholic Church, including the treatment by clergy of women and survivors of sexual abuse, as church leaders prepared to begin a month-long summit at the Vatican.

The ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica featured testimony from an abuse survivor, who told hundreds of bishops in attendance that the abuse scandals “have shaken the faith of millions (and) tarnished the reputation of an institution that many look to for guidance”.

Pope Francis returned on Sept 29 from a trip to Belgium, where he faced some of the strongest criticism yet levied during one of his foreign trips.

The country’s king and prime minister urged more concrete actions to address the abuse scandals, and leaders at two Catholic universities denounced the Pope’s stances on the role of women in the Catholic Church and society.

As part of the service on Oct 1, seven cardinals, the highest figures after the Pope in the 1.4 billion-member global Catholic Church, made requests for pardon for different Church failings. Pope Francis told attendees he wrote the requests himself “because it was necessary to call our sins by their first and last names”.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the retiring archbishop of Boston who leads the Vatican’s commission on clergy sexual abuse, asked for forgiveness over abuse. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a former bishop of Dallas who leads the Vatican’s department for laypeople, asked for pardon “for all the times that we have not recognised and defended the dignity of women”.

Pope Francis said the service was intended “to begin to heal wounds that never stop bleeding”.

“We ask forgiveness, feeling ashamed, from those who have been hurt by our sins,” said the Pope.

The Vatican summit, known as a synod, opens on Oct 2. The meeting includes cardinals, bishops and laypeople from more than 110 countries. The synod members will vote on a final text in late October that may suggest doctrinal changes.

An earlier summit, held in 2023, featured discussions on divisive issues such as women’s ordination and

blessings for same-sex couples

. But most of the hottest issues for this assembly have been assigned to study groups that will make final reports in June 2025 to Pope Francis, who is 87. REUTERS