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PA
UK News

Catholic Church abuse report slammed as 'repugnant'

The Church has apologised to victims of abuse by clergy after the findings of independent review into its handling of abuse allegations was published.

It said the church's safeguarding guidelines had to be updated and survivors of abuse should be prioritised.

But Survivors' groups said the report was "nothing but a face-saving exercise to restore the damaged reputation of the Catholic Church".

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia's apology was "16-years too late" and "meaningless", they added.

Andi Lavery from the survivor's advocacy group White Flower Alba told The National newspaper that the report was "just a joke".

He said: "None of it matters to survivors now. It is a farce and irrelevant to us.

"The Catholic Church has treated us all with utter contempt over the years and this changes nothing.

"An apology does not cut any ice with me or the families of all the lads I went to school with, or never even knew at school, who committed suicide through the trauma of their endurance at that awful school and that is just one Catholic school.

"I find the summary repugnant to me as a survivor. I just totally disavow the report."

Eight recommendations were put forward to the Church in the report including external scrutiny and independence in the safeguarding policies.

Lavery added: "The report patronises survivors that we don't want financial redress. I wonder who these survivors are because I don't know one who doesn't want reparation for what happened to them.

"Every single person I know needs financial help because the Catholic Church destroyed their lives. It is complete nonsense. They treat us like chumps. This report has done nothing to restore the dignity of the survivors."

Speaking at a mass at St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow, in response to the findings, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of the Scottish Catholic Bishops' Conference said: "As the president of the Bishops' Conference, and on behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church.

"Child abuse is a horrific crime. That this abuse should have been carried out within the Church, and by priests and religious, takes that abuse to another level.

"Such actions are inexcusable and intolerable. The harm the perpetrators of abuse have caused is first and foremost to their victims, but it extends far beyond them, to their families and friends, as well as to the church and wider society."

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