"He raped me for years and had me abort three times": the poignant video testimony that the pope made the bishops watch

The walls of the Vatican sounded on Thursday heartbreaking testimonies. Five voices silenced by the clergy for many years were collected in a video that began Thursday. summit against pedophilia in the church summoned by Pope Francisco.

In the video, a Latin American man, an African woman and three other men from Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States, they told about their experiences. The names of the victims were not revealed, nor were the pictures. There are five testimonials with which they have tried to reflect a situation that has affected thousands of people around the world.

"The first thing they did was treat me as a liar", is one of the denunciations heard by the 190 representatives of the Catholic hierarchy present at the meeting."They made me and they said that I and others were enemies of the Church, "lamented one of the victims, the Latin American man.

"I know they're discussing how to finish and start over how to fix all this damage. First, no more false, forbidden requests for forgiveness work. We must believe the victimsRespect them, take care of them and fix them. You must repair the victims, you must be with them, you must believe them, you must accompany them, "he said.

For her part, the African woman said that since the age of fifteen, she was forced to have bad with a priest.

"I was pregnant three times and three times he has me aborted. Simply because he did not want a condom or contraceptive method. At first I had so much confidence in him that I did not know that he could abuse me. I was scared of him. And every time I refused to have bad. he hit me", was heard in the room where the bishops meet.

The woman said that his life was "ruined" and that after "enduring so many humiliations", he does not know what the future will bring him, so he asked the church to "behave responsibly, in as sensible people ".

In another testimony, a 53-year-old Eastern European priest said that at the seminary a superior he would go into his bed and touch him. He pointed out that what hurt him deeply was that after many years he had talked to a bishop about it. Not only did he not answer him, but he was then badaulted.

This priest asked the bishops, "Listen to these people, who learn to listen to people who speak. I wanted someone to listen to me to find out who this man is. "

Then, the American denounced that the abuses made him lose "the innocence of his youth" and how in him and in his family the pain of "betrayal" remains and "the manipulation" of those who mistreated him.

The fifth victim, an Asian man, concluded by calling for action: "If you want save the churchwe must act together and ensure that those responsible for the practice or concealment of abuse give up. "

Testimonials "not allowed"

Parallel to the Vatican summit, organizations of victims of these abuses concentrated in Rome and criticized the fact that they were not allowed to testify at the beginning of the event. In fact, Francisco did not refer in his inaugural speech to the presence of this group in the Vatican.

According to the estimates of the victims' badociations – with the data of the state and ecclesial research commissions – they could be between 50,000 and 100,000 children have suffered physical and badual violence in Catholic institutions around the world.

Spanish Miguel Hurtado, 16, will be among the victims of the protest. he suffered badual abuse by a monk from Montserrat Abbey, Andreu Soler. His case was hidden, he reported.

"When I was 16, I was abused by a Benedictine monk and Montserrat Abbey covered the crime for 20 years," said Hurtado of Rome. He was skeptical about the results of the meeting of Catholic leaders. For him, it's about "a cosmetic summit"since he believes that "in four days you can not get a lot". "If the Pope took seriously the problem of abuse in the Church, he would have organized a synod that would last two or three weeks," he said.