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CNN Live Sunday

Pope John Paul II Speaks Out About Clerical Sex Scandals

Aired July 28, 2002 - 17:27   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Pope John Paul II leaves for Guatemala tomorrow after wowing a crowd of 800,000 at a World Youth Day mass this morning in Toronto. For the first time this year, the pope talked directly to the public on the clerical sex scandal. CNN's Jim Bittermann is in Toronto. Good evening to you, Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renay, how are you? In fact, most of the priests and bishops here from the Catholic Church have spent the better part of this past week trying to keep the media focused on matters of faith and away from the idea of the sex abuse scandals.

But, in fact, as you mentioned, the pope himself brought up the subject this morning, made some very pointed remarks to a crowd of several hundred thousand who had gathered for a papal mass. Here's exactly the way he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE JOHN PAUL II: Priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame. But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: After making those remarks, the pope drew a very large round of applause from the crowd, so many of those in the crowd that we talked to seemed to appreciate the fact that he had at least raised the subject while he was here.

The pope is now resting on his way to Guatemala and Mexico City tomorrow, as you mentioned. He'll spend the evening resting this evening, and then takes off tomorrow for Latin America, his 27th trip to Latin America where he'll canonize two saints and beatify two more martyrs in Latin America. Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: Jim, I know that it was his first public statement about this, but he seemed to focus mostly on the priests who were involved. Did he say anything about the victims of clerical abuse, anything to them at all, any kind of an apology?

BITTERMANN: No, he did not, and in fact while he remarks drew fairly positive comments from the people around the mass today, the fact is that victims' groups who were - many of whom were not represented at all at the mass, were not so happy with what the pope had to say for exactly that reason that he had forgotten to mention the victims in his remarks. They thought that he should have said something about that. Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: Jim Bittermann reporting live from Toronto, thank you very much, Jim.

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