Pope Francis leads the Church's act of penance for transgressions

In an act of penance, top representatives of the Catholic Church, led by Pope Francis , confessed the Church's guilt. For the first time, they also publicly asked God and humanity for forgiveness for the Catholic Church's failure to deal with cases of sexual abuse by clergy. The service took place on Tuesday evening in St Peter's Basilica, on the eve of the opening of a four-week Synod on Synodality on the renewal of the Catholic Church.

Similar to the historic confession of the Church's sins over the course of its long history, which took place in 2000, several cardinals read out individual confessions of guilt one after the other. Each contribution contained the sentence: "I ask for forgiveness and am ashamed".

Previously, a man who had been abused as a minor, among others, had reported on the severe psychological damage caused to the victims by the offences and their cover-up. The confession of guilt in relation to abuse by clergy was made by the US Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who had headed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Children for many years. In addition to the failure to deal with sexual or spiritual abuse, the cardinals acknowledged the guilt of Christians' involvement in environmental destruction, colonialism and slavery, among other things. The failure of men in the church to stand up for the dignity of women was mentioned, as was the oppression and exploitation of women religious. Each confession of guilt was accompanied by a sung invocation of God's mercy.

"Healing wounds that are still bleeding"

In his closing address, the Pope emphasised: "We can no longer invoke the name of God without first asking for forgiveness from our brothers and sisters, the earth and all creatures." He continued: "We must ask ourselves what responsibility we have if we do not succeed in stopping evil with good." On the eve of the Synod on Synodality, the confession of guilt was "an opportunity to restore the trust in the Church and the trust in the Church that has been broken by our mistakes and sins, to heal the wounds that are still bleeding and to loosen the bonds of injustice."

The celebration took place in a calm, concentrated atmosphere in St Peter's Basilica, which was not quite full. Pope Francis, who wore a purple stole like the ones priests wear when hearing confession, followed the testimonies with a serious expression and often lowered eyes. After the women and men's speeches, there was applause from those present at the back of St Peter's Basilica, including some of the bishops and cardinals in attendance. Prior to the ceremony, the German "Eckiger Tisch" initiative had criticised in a press release that the act of penance had been planned without the participation of those affected. (KNA)