Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Pope Addresses Sex Scandal

Aired July 29, 2002 - 08:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Later this morning, Pope John Paul II will wrap up the Canadian leg of an 11 day trip to the Americas. And yesterday the pope publicly addressed for the first time the sex scandal in the church. In a mass attended by nearly 800,000 people, the people asked church members to rally behind the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests.
Frank Buckley is standing by live in Toronto with an overview for us this morning -- good morning, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The pope also told those young people who are gathered here in Toronto for World Youth Day activities not to be discouraged by the scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church during the past year. It was exactly what many of the people who were gathered here wanted to hear. The whole issue of the sex abuse crisis did not come up at all during the World Youth Day activities here, at least on the formal agenda.

Some wondered if the topic would ever be addressed by the pope during his visit to Canada. Finally during the homily of the Sunday mass, the pontiff spoke directly to the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE JOHN PAUL II: If you love Jesus, love the church, do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members. The harm done by some priests and religious (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and sin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: So far, however, survivors of sex abuse at the hands of some priests are saying they were disappointed. They say that there was no apology in that statement from the pope and they feel as though the pope didn't go far enough -- Paula.

ZAHN: What, though, Frank, was the general reaction of some of those 800,000 people who stood in long lines and waited for many hours to hear the pope speak?

BUCKLEY: Well, the young people who are gathered here are really the fiercely faithful of young Catholics. They're representing 170 nations. They were called pilgrims. They came from all around the world to be here. They slept in the mud before, the night before the mass with the pope. Their reaction was what you might expect. They were very happy. Many of these people have been saying for the past year, look, my priest, my bishop is someone who is doing good works and helping us in our community. We don't understand this sex abuse crisis because it doesn't touch us and you in the media are talking too much about that.

So they were quite happy to hear it.

ZAHN: Frank Buckley, thanks so much for that report. It was great to be able to see part of that sermon again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com