The Archbishop of Westminster has issued a video showing penitence for the Catholic Church’s devastating sins of clerical sex abuse.
In the video, made on the fifth Friday in Lent, 3 April, Cardinal Vincent Nichols prays for the victims and survivors of abuse, particularly childhood abuse.
That Friday in Lent has been declared a special day of prayer dedicated to this intention.
Cardinal Nichols meditates using images from the High Stations on the hill above the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
“Our Lady requested of Bernadette that people should come to Lourdes to do Penance so this is how we focus our hearts and minds today,” he said. “It’s important for the Church to acknowledge and respond in prayer, rather than restrict its activities to just one day of the year, but on this day the Fifth Friday of Lent, we pray for the those who have suffered.”
He had hoped to make the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral on the specially-designated day for victims and survivors of abuse. “But I can’t go in the cathdral,” he said.
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With thanks to The Tablet, where this article originally appeared.
