羅馬天主教宗承認處理智利性虐醜聞時犯了“嚴重錯誤”

Pope Francis has admitted that he made "grave mistakes" in his handling of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, telling the country's bishops in a letter that he feels "pain and shame".

In an extraordinary public letter released by the Vatican Wednesday, Francis summoned all of Chile's bishops to the Vatican for an emergency meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the scandal.

In the three-page letter in Spanish, the head of the Roman Catholic Church also invited the victims he had once doubted to Rome to seek their forgiveness personally.

Francis blamed a lack of "truthful and balanced information'' for his failure in judging the case of Bishop Juan Barros, a protege of Chile's most notorious predator priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima. Francis strongly defended the bishop during his January visit to Chile despite accusations by victims that Barros had witnessed and ignored their abuse.

In Chile and during an airborne press conference returning to Rome, Francis accused the victims of "calumny'' for pressing their case against Barros, demanded they present "proof'' of their claims and revealed he had twice rejected Barros' resignation. "I am convinced he is innocent,'' the pope insisted.

The change in the pope's thinking comes after a visit to Chile by one of the Vatican's most experienced sexual abuse investigators, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta. The letter makes no mention of Barros' future.羅馬天主教教宗方濟各承認，他在處理智利教職人員性虐待的問題上犯了“嚴重錯誤”。教宗方濟各在給智利所有主教的信中說，他感到“痛苦和羞恥”。

教宗在梵蒂岡星期三罕見地公佈的一封公開信中，召集智利所有的主教幾星期後到梵蒂岡參加一次緊急會議，討論性虐待醜聞。

在這封西班牙語的三頁公開信中，羅馬天主教宗方濟各還邀請他先前曾質疑的受害者前來羅馬，他將親自請求他們的寬恕。

教宗方濟各說，由於缺少“真實和全面的信息”，他在處理智利主教巴羅斯的問題上犯了錯誤。巴羅斯是臭名昭著的性虐兒童的神父卡拉蒂馬的門徒。教宗方濟各今年1月訪問智利期間爲巴羅斯主教大力辯護。性虐受害者指稱，巴羅斯對卡拉蒂馬的性虐行爲熟視無睹。

教宗方濟各在智利訪問期間以及在返回梵蒂岡時在飛機上舉行的記者會上都曾一再稱，提出指稱的受害者是在“誹謗”，要求他們提供“證據”，並表示曾兩次拒絕了巴羅斯的辭職。他堅持說：“我深信他的清白。”

梵蒂岡調查性虐最有經驗的人之一查爾斯·希克魯納紅衣主教（Charles Scicluna）訪問智利之後，教宗改變了看法。教宗方濟各在公開信中沒有提及巴羅斯的未來。