Pope Francis sorry for upsetting abuse victims

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard his flight to Italy at the end of his trip to South America, 22 January 2018

Pope Francis has apologised for remarks he made last week in Chile defending a bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse.
He said he realised his words hurt many, but repeated his belief that Chilean Bishop Juan Barros was innocent.
Francis was speaking to journalists on board a plane flying back to Rome.
On Thursday, he had said that victims who had accused Bishop Barros were committing slander.
The Pope was openly criticised by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who said he left victims of sexual abuse committed by priests feeling abandoned.
"I apologise to them if I hurt them without realising it, but it was a wound that I inflicted without meaning to," said the Pope on Monday, quoted by Reuters news agency. "It pains me very much."

A rare apology

Analysis by James Reynolds, BBC Rome correspondent
It is unusual for a Pope to apologise for his own words. But he clearly felt that he had to make up for his abrupt dismissal of allegations made by victims of clerical sexual abuse in Chile.
The victims had accused a Chilean Bishop, Juan Barros, of covering up abuse committed by a fellow priest.
During his trip to Chile, the Pope described these accusations as a slander, for which there was not a shred of evidence.
The Pope has now apologised for his choice of words. He said that he understood that by essentially daring victims to bring him proof, it came off as a slap in the face.
However, the Pope continued to insist that an investigation had shown that there was no evidence to support the charges levelled against Bishop Barros.

What is the controversy about?

In 2010, Father Karadima was publicly accused of molesting several teenaged boys in the capital, Santiago, starting in the 1980s.
After the Vatican found him guilty, he was sentenced to a lifetime of "penance and prayer".
He never faced criminal prosecution in Chile as too much time had passed, but the judge who heard victims' testimony in a year-long investigation described them as "truthful and reliable".
The Pope has been criticised for appointing Bishop Barros as bishop of Osorno, in south-central Chile, in 2015. The ordination ceremony had to be cut short over protests in the cathedral.

How did this affect his latest trip?

The Pope was greeted with protests in Santiago, with demonstrators insisting the bishop should not hold his role.
Francis also met victims of sexual abuse by priests in the country. He cried with them and said he felt "pain and shame" over the scandal.
Some of the victims said saying sorry was no longer enough, and they want him to take action.

My Response

Audience: 

I think that the audience of this article could widely vary. However, i think that it was mainly directed towards people in Chile who knew about the scandal that happened. I also feel like it could be to the people of Argentina who have heard about the scandal and are feel shame because of their pope.

Purpose: 

In my opinion, i think that the purpose of this article was actually to show that Pope Francis is not as bad of a person as he has the reputation of at the moment.

Bias:

I feel like there is a lot of bias in this article towards the Pope. Because of my thoughts on the purpose of the article, i feel like the author wants the Pope to look better to his readers, therefore showing bias towards him.

My Opinion:

I definitely feel a little annoyed when i read this article because i feel like there is a certain false truth behind the words of the article. What happened - the scandal - was and is a very big problem, and to downgrade what happened is really nothing to take easily. I feel like the Pope should have done more to helping the victims feel like they are not alone. I feel like when Trump does something like this - as in, do something that is not socially or politically correct, and then apologize for it - all he gets for it is mockery and judgement. People think that Trump is a terrible person, but that is not entirely true. Yes, he has his flaws, but so does the Pope. And for the author of this article to be portraying the Pope as this perfect person, that rights all his wrongs is very false. 

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