Pope Francis says the crisis of sexual abuse has pushed young Catholics away from the church

Pope Francis acknowledged Tuesday that young people are being driven out of the Roman Catholic Church because of the way they have dealt with the problem of sexual abuse by clerics.

Addressing a youth room during his trip to Estonia, Francis said that the church needed to change course in order to regain the trust of future generations, reported the Associated Press.

"Many young people do not turn to us because they do not feel that we have something to say to them," Francis told an ecumenical Christian meeting in a Tallinn church, according to a translation by the agency. Catholic press.

The Catholic Church has been shaken for months by new appeals for responsibility for sexual abuse by clerics. Around the world, victims, defenders, civil servants and Catholics in the benches have called on senior church officials not to do enough to hold responsible predator priests and bishops covering them. The scandal reached the highest levels of the church last August, when a former Vatican official accused Francis and other high-ranking clerics of concealing sexual misconduct of an ex-cardinal in disgrace.

Francis, who has not yet responded clearly to the accusations, told Estonian youth gathered that he understands that young people are shocked by the scandal and by other failings of the church. .

Young people "are outraged by the sexual and economic scandals that are not clearly condemned, by our lack of preparation to truly appreciate the lives and sensibilities of young people, and simply by the passive role we attribute to them," said the pope .

Francis referred to a research paper created before the next Synod of Bishops, a global meeting this year dedicated to young people. The document compiled the views of young Catholics around the world on how the church could best serve its young people.

Francis stated that it is clear from the document that young people want the church to be "transparent, welcoming, honest, welcoming, communicative, accessible, joyful and interactive".

"We have to be converted ourselves," he said. "We need to realize that to stay by your side, we have to change many situations that will ultimately discourage you."

The pope met the young people on his last papal trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. He made his candid comments on the sex abuse scandal the same day that the German Catholic Church published a damning report on the crisis of abuse in that country. The report found that at least 3,677 people were abused by the clergy between 1946 and 2014, according to the AP. Most of the victims were boys aged 13 or younger, and one in six cases involved rape, according to the report.

The scandal of sexual abuse and the concealment of clerics has also rocked the American Catholic Church. In August, a Pennsylvania grand jury identified more than 1,000 victims and 301 predatory priests after a historic investigation in six of the state's eight dioceses.

Katie Prejean McGrady, speaker and Catholic writer, was one of the delegates sent to Rome by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to give an overview of the youths before the synod of bishops. She told HuffPost that she was moved by Francis' words on Tuesday, and hopes this is a sign that he will respond to specific allegations and allegations "specifically and soon".

McGrady said she believed that the crisis had prompted young Catholics to respond with renewed efforts of prayer, fasting and community building. Young people demand transparency and work for justice and healing of victims of abuse, she said. But there was also a lot of confusion and pain, and a lot of lingering questions.

"There has been anger and rage as a result of this injury and some young people are on the verge of despair, thinking that evangelism efforts will not work because of the scandal, because of this evil and because 'Church lost credibility because of that,' said McGrady. "It's difficult, because we are called to be a people of hope, and we know it, but it's still a struggle right now."

Kaya Oakes is a former atheist who has written extensively on her return to her Catholic roots and struggling to reconcile her liberal beliefs with the doctrine of the church. Oakes told HuffPost that for the moment, she finds her Catholic identity more among the laity than in the church hierarchy.

"Most of us will never meet or interact with a bishop or cardinal. Most of us are barely spending time with the priests, "said Oakes. "That's probably why we're feeling the crisis of abuse more intensely, because it happens to people like us."

Oakes said that she thinks young Catholics are recovering from the crisis.

"They feel abandoned by church leaders and betrayed by cultures of clericalism and silence that allowed this to happen," she said. "Thanks to Me Too and greater openness to the victims who are coming forward, as well as a cultural shift in favor of abusive behavior, young Catholics are disgusted by the idea that the church is dealing with people like that. "

Oakes and McGrady both said that what young people want from the church right now are actions rather than empty words.

"Honesty, we want honesty, we want transparency, we want answers," said McGrady, "and to rebuild that trust, young people want insurance and action plans to make it happen again." more."

Need help for? Visit RAINN National online hotline on sexual assault or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center Website.