PA- Victims want US Catholics to "grill" Pope in Philly

Victims want US Catholics to "grill" Pope in Philly

For immediate release: Friday, July 25, 2014

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, Founder and President of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747, [email protected])  

It's now confirmed: Pope Francis will visit Philadelphia - and maybe other North American cities - next year.

He's done little or nothing substantial to protect kids and expose cover ups. So we hope that when he comes here, U.S. Catholics and citizens will grill him about the on-going, horrific child sex abuse and cover up crisis. We hope they will insist that he stop making apologies and start taking action, that he stop asking forgiveness and start firing enablers, that he stop shifting blame and start "outing" predators, that he stop making excuses and start making change.

In few countries on earth have so many wounded victims been stepping forward and have so many upset Catholics been pressing for reform for so long. If there's anywhere on earth that Francis should face tough questions about his refusal to take tangible steps to prevent clergy sex crimes, it's here.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747,[email protected])