Pope Francis has said he is ashamed of the Catholic Church’s failure to adequately address the “repellent crimes” of sex abuse by clergy.
The Irish prime minister earlier delivered a strong warning to the Pope to take action against clergy involved in child abuse and keeping it secret.
The Pope is expected to meet abuse survivors later on Saturday.
The papal visit, the first to the Irish Republic for 39 years, coincides with the World Meeting of Families.
It is a global Catholic gathering held every three years.
“I cannot fail to acknowledge the grave scandal caused in Ireland by the abuse of young people by members of the Church charged with responsibility for their protection and education,” the Pope told political leaders and dignitaries at Dublin Castle.
“The failure of ecclesiastical authorities – bishops, religious superiors, priests and others – adequately to address these repellent crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community,” he said.
“I myself share those sentiments.”
Earlier this week, in a letter to the world’s 1.2bn Roman Catholics, the Pope condemned the “atrocities” of child abuse and clerical cover-ups.
He was speaking after Mr Varadkar said the failures of the Church, the state and wider society had created a “bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering”.
“Magdalene Laundries, mother and baby homes, industrial schools, illegal adoptions and clerical child abuse are stains on our state, our society and also the Catholic Church,” he said.
“People kept in dark corners, behind closed doors, cries for help that went unheard.
“Above all, Holy Father, I ask to you to listen to the victims and survivors.”
Mr Varadkar said there could be zero tolerance for those who abuse children or who facilitate that abuse and that from words action must flow.
Flowers and vestments
The Pope’s visit will end with a Mass for 500,000 people at Phoenix Park on Sunday.
Having been presented with flowers and vestments by children after his aeroplane Shepherd One touched down at Dublin Airport, Pope Francis travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish president’s residence, where he was welcomed by President Michael D Higgins, his wife Sabina and a military guard of honour.
The Ireland that he is visiting is a different country to that which greeted Pope John Paul II in 1979.
Since the Polish pope’s visit, there have been huge changes in public attitudes to social issues including abortion, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriage.
The country voted for constitutional change on gay marriage in 2015 and voted overwhelmingly to overturn its strict abortion law in May.
The Pope heard Mr Varadkar, a gay man, speak out against the traditional Catholic teaching on the family.
He said that the Republic of Ireland had modernised its laws, “understanding that marriages do not always work, that women should make their own decisions and that families come in many forms” – including those headed by a lone parent, same-sex parents or parents who are divorced and remarried.
The Irish Catholic Church has been engulfed in scandal with the uncovering of widespread clerical sexual abuse of children and cover-ups.
Child sex abuse scandals continue to embroil the Church around the globe.
On Friday, Mr Varadkar said he hoped the Pope’s visit would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Ireland’s relationship with the Church, which he said had held “too much of a dominant place in our society”.
Moral authority ravaged
By Martin Bashir, BBC religion editor
Back in the 1970s, almost 90% of Irish Catholics would attend weekly Mass. Divorce, abortion and contraception were against the law.
Since then, religious faith and attendance at Mass have been diminished from within: scandal upon scandal has ravaged the Church’s moral authority.
The biggest challenge for the Church in Ireland is not the power of secularism, from without, but the task of establishing moral integrity and moral accountability, from within.
The Vatican said the meeting with sex-abuse survivors would not be announced until after it was over, and that it would be up to victims if they wanted to speak afterwards.
On Saturday evening, the Pope will attend the Festival of Families concert in Dublin’s Croke Park stadium.
More than 70,000 people are expected to take part, with the world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli due to perform.
Other acts on the bill include Nathan Carter, Daniel O’Donnell, Moya Brennan, the Begley Family and the Priests.
The pontiff will travel to County Mayo on Sunday morning for a visit to Knock Shrine.
He will return to Dublin for an afternoon Mass in front of an estimated 500,000 people in Phoenix Park, to close the World Meeting of Families.
Papal visit to Ireland: Itinerary highlights
Saturday 25 August
- 08:15 – Departure by plane from Rome for Dublin
- 10:30 – Arrival at Dublin Airport for official welcome
- 10:45 – Transfer to Áras an Uachtaráin (Irish president’s residence)
- 11:15 – Welcome ceremony with President Michael D. Higgins
- 12:10 – Arrival at Dublin Castle for meeting with authorities, civil society and diplomatic corps
- 15:30 – Visit to St Mary’s Pro Cathedral
- 16:30 – Private visit to the Capuchin Day Centre, a centre for homeless people
- 19:45 – Preside at the Festival of Families at Croke Park stadium
Sunday 26 August
- 08:40 – Departure by plane for Knock
- 09:45 – Arrival at Knock Shrine for visit to the Apparition Chapel and recitation of the Angelus
- 11:15 – Departure by plane for Dublin
- 12:30 – Lunch with the Papal Delegation
- 15:00 – Closing Papal Mass of the World Meeting of Families in Phoenix Park
- 18:30 – Farewell ceremony at Dublin Airport
- 18:45 – Departure for Rome
- 23:00 – Arrival in Rome
–
Source: BBC
