Pope, in dramatic move, comforts sex abuse victims

By Philip Pullella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in a dramatic surprise, held an emotional and tearful meeting on Thursday with victims of sexual abuse by priests, consoling them and promising them his prayers.

The 25-minute meeting, believed to be the first time a pope has met with victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, took place in the chapel of the Vatican's embassy and was kept secret until after it was over.

The encounter dramatically capped three days of comments the pope has made expressing shame about the scandal that has rocked the U.S. Church.

"They prayed with the Holy Father, who afterward listened to their personal accounts and offered them words of encouragement and hope," a Vatican statement said. "His holiness assured them of his prayers for their intentions, for their families and for all victims of sexual abuse."

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, the city where the scandal first broke in 2002, accompanied the group, which a Vatican source said was made up of about a half a dozen middle-aged men and women.

Chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said there was a lot of emotion in the room and some of the victims cried. Each victim then chatted personally with the pope.

Benedict spoke "affectionate words" to the group and Cardinal O'Malley gave the pope a notebook with the names of about 1,000 sexual abuse victims in the Boston archdiocese, so that the pope could pray for all of them, Lombardi said.

O'Malley replaced Boston's former archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in December 2002 over the scandal.

Just hours earlier, at a Mass for some 45,000 people at the new Nationals Park baseball stadium, the pope acknowledged the "indescribable pain and harm" caused by the pedophile priests scandal, which has cost U.S. dioceses $2 billion in damages.

"No words of mine can describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," the pope said in the sermon at the stadium hosting its first non-baseball event.

The U.S. pedophile priest scandal first erupted in Boston, where priests who abused minors were transferred to other parishes instead of being defrocked or reported to police.

DAMAGE TO CHURCH

At the stadium, advertisements flanking the scoreboard were covered by U.S. flags. A large yellow and white papal flag fluttered in left field and a papal seal covered home plate as the pope said Mass from an altar platform in center field.

"It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately describe the damage that has occurred within the community of the Church," he said during Mass.

From a towering white and gold altar platform, the pope asked U.S. Catholics to foster healing and reconciliation with victims and added: "Also, I ask you to love your priests, and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do."