Pope Francis visited a famous shrine today in Ireland and was to celebrate a Mass dedicated to families after an emotional meeting with Irish victims of clerical sex abuse and those wrenched away from their mothers in forced adoptions demanded by Catholic authorities.
Francis arrived Sunday in Knock, the Marian shrine in northwestern Ireland, where he prayed and blessed thousands of jubilant Irish faithful, who gathered in raincoats under clouds.
Yesterday, the first day of his visit, Francis spent 90 minutes meeting with victims of clerical and institutional abuse, including two people who were forcibly given up for adoption as newborns because their mothers weren't married.
They are some of the thousands of Irish children taken from their mothers who were then forced to go live and work in laundries and other workhouses for "fallen women."
One of them, Clodagh Malone, said Francis was "shocked" at what they told him and "he listened to each and every one of us with respect and compassion."
"That would mean a lot to them."
Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation as cardinal last month after a US church investigation determined an accusation he molested a minor was "credible."
Colm O'Gorman, who is leading a solidarity rally Sunday in Dublin for abuse victims, said Francis' remarks about sharing the shame felt by Catholics were an "insult to faithful Catholics, who have no reason to feel shame because of the crimes of the Vatican and the institutional church."
Their conversation wasn't released but Francis said her words "still echo in my ears."
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