Europe 1 with AFP 10:26 am, October 06, 2021, modified at 10:34 am, October 06, 2021

Pope Francis reacted after the publication on Tuesday of the Sauvé report on victims of child crime in France.

During an audience in Rome, the Pope expressed his shame and called on French Catholics to assume their responsibilities.

Pope Francis expressed "his shame" on Wednesday, repeating this word several times, after the publication of a damning report on child crime within the Church of France.

"I wish to express to the victims my sadness, my pain for the trauma suffered, and also my shame, our shame, my shame for the Church's inability for too long to put them at the center of its concerns", he said. said during the general audience.

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"This is the moment of shame"

"I pray, and let us all pray together, to you Lord the glory, to us the shame. This is the moment of shame", insisted the Argentine Pope, who invited all religious leaders "to continue all their efforts to that such tragedies do not happen again ".

Referring to "a hard but salutary trial", he called "French Catholics to assume their responsibilities so that the Church is a safe home for all".

An independent commission, which investigated the extent of child crime in the Catholic Church in France, released its damning conclusions Tuesday, estimating at 216,000 the number of children and adolescents victims of clerics and religious since 1950.

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330,000 victims 

If we add the people attacked by lay people working in Church institutions (teachers, supervisors, youth movement executives ...), the number climbs to 330,000, indicated its president, Jean-Marc Sauvé, by revealing the findings of the Independent Commission on Abuse in the Church (Ciase).

As of Tuesday, the Vatican spokesman reacted to this information, evoking the "immense sorrow" of the Pope.

"Her thoughts turn first and foremost to the victims, with immense sorrow for their wounds and gratitude for their courage to speak out. They also turn to the Church of France, so that, having realized this appalling reality, she can undertake the path of redemption, "said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, speaking to journalists about the Pope's reaction.