Pope's acknowledgement went ‘further than we hoped' – St Peter's survivor

Pope Francis’s acknowledgement of the wrongs done to mothers and babies in St Peter’s in Castlepollard and other institutions run by religious orders went “far beyond” what campaigners were hoping.

That’s according to Paul Redmond, who was born in St Peter’s, and is the chairperson of the Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors (CMABS) group.

At the beginning of the Mass in Phoenix Park on Sunday, Pope Francis asked for “forgiveness” for the “abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses perpetrated by members with roles of responsibility within the Church”.

He also asked for “pardon for all the abuses committed in various types of institutions run by male or female religious or other members of the Church”.

“We ask for forgiveness for those cases of exploitation through manual work that so many young women and men were subjected to. We ask forgiveness.”

He also acknowledged that the unmarried mothers who were forced to give up their children for adoption and then encouraged not to look for them were wronged by the church.

“We ask forgiveness for the times when many single mothers were told that to seek their children who had been separated from them, and the same was said to their sons and daughters, that this was a mortal sin. This is not a mortal sin. We ask for forgiveness,” Pope Francis said.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Mr Redmond says that he was deeply moved by the Pope’s words, which “went a lot further” than he and other campaigners expected.

“What we went in looking for was the Church to acknowledge some of the damage that the nuns did back in the day by telling vulnerable mothers that they would burn in hell and that it was a mortal sin to search for their children.

“He went a lot further in the Phoenix Park and Croke Park about more stuff than that, including the forced adoptions. We certainly are taking the positive out of it and feel that what we did get surpassed our expectations by quite a bit.

“I personally was very cynical going into that meeting. What I heard from the Mass in Phoenix Park was a powerful moment for me.”

Mr Redmond was one of small group including survivors of clerical abuse in Ireland and people who spent time in industrial schools and mother and baby homes who had a 90-minute private meeting with Pope Francis in the Papal Nuncio’s residence on the Navan Road on Saturday.

Speaking to Westmeath Examiner this week, Mr Redmond said that Pope Francis shocked those present when he said that there was a “High Church” within the Catholic religion that was blocking reform.

He then went on to describe those who cover up child abuse as “caca”, a term which Mr Redmond says surprised his translator.

“His translator was slightly taken aback and asked the Pope to clarify what he meant. Pope Francis gestured downwards with his hands in a circular motion and the translator said he was referring to ‘filth in a toilet’.

“Clodagh Malone [another mother and baby home survivor] asked if he was referring to ‘shit’ and the translator agreed that was an accurate translation. It was a powerful moment for all those present.”

The fact that Pope Francis was unaware that church run institutions such as Magdalene Laundries, industrial schools and Mother and Baby Homes remained opened in Ireland well into second half of the last century has been the subject of a lot of media coverage. Mr Redmond, who has recently published a book on the history of these institutions in Ireland, says that he gave the Pontiff a quick “crash course” on the topic during the meeting.

“I though he was completely genuine [about his lack of knowledge]. I am not defending him, but Ireland was unique in the 20th century English speaking world. In most countries these network of institutions went out with the Victorian era.”