Pope Speaks Out on Scandal

Pope John Paul II addressed the church’s sexual abuse scandal for the first time in public Sunday, telling 800,000 young Roman Catholics here at an outdoor Mass that “the harm done ... to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame.” He stopped short of apologizing to the victims.

The pontiff also urged support for the church’s innocent priests, a gesture designed to lift the sagging morale of clerics, especially in the U.S., who in the last seven months have endured suspicion by congregants, new sets of rules and jokes made on late-night talk shows.

“Think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests ... whose only wish is to serve and do good,” said John Paul as his 40-minute sermon was interrupted by applause. “Be close to them and support them.”

The papal Mass at Downsview Park culminated the weeklong World Youth Day, a biennial festival, nicknamed Popestock, created 15 years ago by John Paul to bolster the next generation of Catholics in their faith.

“If you love Jesus, love the church,” the 82-year-old pope told young pilgrims from 170 countries. “Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members.... At difficult moments in the church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent.”

Previous comments from John Paul on the American molestation scandal, which erupted in Boston in January and spread across the country, found their way to the public indirectly: by way of a letter to clerics in April and a talk that same month with U.S. cardinals in Rome.

Lawrence Cunningham, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, speculated that the pope’s direct acknowledgment of the issue was prompted by the latest priest scandals in the media, including the arrest of two New Jersey clerics in Montreal last week who were charged with soliciting sex from male minors. A spokesman for the Newark, N.J., diocese told Associated Press that both men resigned from their duties after their arrests.

“He’s very media savvy, and the people around him would have paid attention to what was in the Canadian and American press,” Cunningham said. “If he didn’t say something about it, it would have felt peculiar, as if he were indifferent to the issue.”

For America’s 46,000 priests, the message was an unexpected morale boost. About 300 U.S. priests have been taken off duty this year due to sexual abuse allegations, according to a survey by Associated Press.

“To have him say that, it meant a lot,” said Michael Cummins, a 34-year-old priest from Knoxville, Tenn. “I thought it was a great thing to hear it directly from him.”

But a national leader of a victims support group said John Paul’s latest words, though welcome, didn’t go far enough.

“We’re fundamentally disappointed that he didn’t apologize,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the national Survivors Network, which helps people abused by priests. “And he only talked about the abusive priests and not the complicit bishops who let the problem reach horrific proportions.”

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who has been criticized for allowing admitted child molesters to remain in ministries within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said it was good that the young Catholics heard directly from John Paul on the issue.

“I was very pleased because this is obviously a reality not only in my country but elsewhere in the world,” he said. Bishops in Ireland and Poland have resigned in recent months over sexual abuse scandals.

The pontiff’s comments echoed a speech he made in Denver during World Youth Day in 1993, when the church was also reeling from a series of sex abuse scandals. “At a time when all institutions are suspect, the church herself has not escaped reproach,” John Paul said at the time.

For most of the youths in Toronto, the pope’s mention of the scandal had little significance. They say the controversy is overblown by the media and does not represent a major church crisis.

Even Cardinal Bernard Law, whose Archdiocese of Boston became the scandal’s flash point after it became public that he had moved a serial molester from parish to parish, received a forgiving reception by Catholics here who enthusiastically chanted, “Law! Law! Law!” and danced with him during an appearance last week.

“No offense, but the media focuses on things the church isn’t about,” said Priscilla Scaff, a 16-year-old from a Costa Mesa parish whose pastor recently was accused of a decades-old molestation. “But here [at World Youth Day] you see what the church is all about.”

The pilgrims spent the week striking up friendships with other Catholics from around the world, deepening their faith through classes, daily services and prayer, and having fun by singing, dancing and flying their nations’ flags above the huge crowds. The event attracted enough people to require 21 large video screens, nearly 200 gallons of sacramental wine for the Mass and 30 acres of portable toilets.

“There are more people here than in my entire state,” said Kyle Washut, a 17-year-old from Casper, Wyo. “You might have a crowd of cows like this, but you still don’t have the same diversity as here.”

At Sunday’s service, the pope spoke in seven languages, getting cheers from native speakers each time he began in another tongue.

Though the ailing pope displayed remarkable stamina throughout the week, he faded markedly near the end of the three-hour Mass. His words began to slur, his arms shook, and he slumped over the altar--all signs of the Parkinson’s disease that has grown worse in recent years.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the event’s broadcaster, cut away from the pope at times, apparently trying to preserve his dignity as he was moved to different areas on stage, sometimes on a specially designed wheeled platform. But that strategy wasn’t needed when the pontiff arrived Tuesday in Toronto, surprising Vatican observers and drawing gasps from the crowd as he descended the steep stairs of his private airliner.

John Paul used his old age Sunday as a way to connect with the crowd. “You are young, and the pope is old,” he said at one point, smiling playfully at his audience. They responded by chanting, “The pope is young!”

For a moment, John Paul left his scripted remarks and commented that there’s a difference between being 82 and 22. But “[the pope] still fully identifies with your hopes and aspirations,” he said. “Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young.”

John Paul’s special rapport with young people only grew over the week as they watched the physical struggles of an elderly man who traveled so far to see them.

“What you see is a soul pushing a body,” said the pope’s spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. “A soul stronger than the body.”

Most in the crowd had spent Saturday night in sleeping bags and cardboard tents on the massive runways and grass infields of the abandoned military base at Downsview Park. An early morning thunderstorm soaked the pilgrims and turned the grounds to mud.

Even as the pope’s helicopter descended onto the site--with a choir singing Handel’s “Messiah”--the steady rain continued. But soon after John Paul began the Mass, the sun appeared.

“He came here just for us, and we have a sense of bond with him,” said Carmi-Joy T. Bonifacio, a 21-year-old from the Philippines. “This is the only pope we’ve known. He’s the one who shaped the world we live in.”

John Paul still has a rigorous journey ahead as he flies today to Guatemala to begin the second leg of his 11-day trip in the Americas.

He’ll end his 97th trip abroad later this week in Mexico, where he will canonize one of the most beloved Catholic figures in Latin America: Juan Diego. A 16th century Aztec, Diego is said to have encountered a brown-skinned Virgin Mary--”Our Lady of Guadalupe”--near present-day Mexico City. The news of Mary’s appearance in Mexico has been the cornerstone of Catholicism in Latin America for the past five centuries.

Times staff writer Richard Fausset in Los Angeles contributed to this story.