Archbishop shakes hands with abuse victim, gives thumbs up

Record ID: 1396663

  • Title: Archbishop shakes hands with abuse victim, gives thumbs up
  • Date: 22nd February 2019
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 22, 2019) (REUTERS) DOME OF ST. PETER'S BASILICA ST. PETER'S SQUARE VARIOUS OF COLUMNS AND STATUES OF ST. PETER'S SQUARE BISHOP ENTERING VATICAN / SWISS GUARDS BISHOP WALKING / MEDIA ARCHBISHOP JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH SPEAKING WITH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM MATTHIAS KATSCH (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, MATTHIAS KATSCH, SAYING: "And I started to talk about it when I was in my mid-forties, like many survivors who need decades to overcome what happened and to have the courage, a position in life to confront this trauma, this childhood trauma." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARCHBISHOP, JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH, SAYING: "I think that as a bishop we have to be accountable in our ministry and I have no problems to be accountable also to a group of lay people. I do not see that as a threat, I see that as something very normal as many other areas of life." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, MATTHIAS KATSCH, SAYING: "We have come here to Rome, we are around forty survivors from twenty countries, we organized ourselves last year to put pressure, I must confess, to put pressure on the Vatican because it's needed without pressure from outside, I mean with all these guys and without our presence here they wouldn't do nothing about it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARCHBISHOP, JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH, SAYING: "We should not care first about what public opinion is thinking. We should care about the victims and we should care that such things do not happen again. They will always happen in some way but should be minimised. It should be the unavoidable few but not in a system." SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, MATTHIAS KATSCH, REPLYING: "So hopefully you will open these doors and receive the survivors who came on their own means here to Rome and wanting to talk to you?" ARCHBISHOP, JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH, SAYING: "I'll do my best." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, MATTHIAS KATSCH, SAYING: "We cannot understand that after thirty years of discussion world-wide there is someone in there saying 'oh sorry I don't know that it was so deep or so important, the point with so many other important points'. What could be more important than protect children?" HOLLERICH AND KATSCH SHAKING HANDS / HOLLERING WALKING AWAY HOLLERICH SHAKING HANDS WITH SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR KIM WILLIAMS HOLDING A PHOTO OF SNAP FOUNDER BARBARA BLAINE / HOLLERICH THANKING SNAP MEMBERS FOR THEIR PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2019 11:54
  • Keywords: Kim Williams sexual abuse conference bishop Philippe Jean-Charles Jourdan Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich Matthias Katsch Vatican victims SNAP
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA001A2NZ2VB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As he arrived for a Vatican summit on sexual abuse on Friday (February 22), a Luxembourg archbishop stopped to hear a victim's story and gave his thumbs up to other abuse survivors gathered nearby.
    Matthias Katsch, a victim of abuse who travelled from Germany with around forty survivors from twenty different countries, was in St. Peter's square waiting for Catholic leaders to arrive when he shared his story with Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich.
    "I started to talk about my abuse when I was in my mid-forties, like many survivors who need decades to overcome what happened and to have the courage", Katsch told the archbishop.
    Hollerich listened to Katsch's story and told him that the Church should focus more on caring for the victims.
    "It should be minimised, it should be the unavoidable few," the archbishop said, adding that no measure could stop abuse from happening.
    Hollerich then spent some time chatting with Kim Williams, an American member of a network of clergy abuse survivors, thanked her for raising awareness and gave her the thumbs up.
    Holding a photograph of SNAP late founder Barbara Blaine, Williams told Reuters that she was grateful his words of encouragement.
    The Feb. 21-24 landmark summit on the crisis has brought together some 200 senior Church officials and Pope Francis, who has promised concrete action to end what he has called a scourge.
    A French bishop, Philippe Jourdan, said he believed the summit would bring a more encompassing awareness as he arrived at the Vatican.
    The conference will end on Sunday (February 24) when the pope will make a final speech. The Vatican said it will then formulate follow-up measure to make sure that each of the bishops returns home knowing how to put anti-abuse procedures into place.
    Some victims expressed concern over the effectiveness of the summit, saying it would be too little, too late.
    (Production: Antonio Denti, Fabiano Franchitti, Iona Serrapica)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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