Pope Francis “didn’t shy away from tackling” the impact of clerical abuse and will leave a lasting legacy, Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin has said.
Speaking in Armagh on Monday, Archbishop Martin said he is “filled with both deep sadness and immense gratitude” following the pontiff’s death.
He said Francis “was always very conscious of the traumatic impact of abuse on survivors and victims”.
The pope “didn’t shy away from tackling the awful trauma of abuse and the impact of those terrible sins and crimes by people acting in the name of the church”, he said.
Speaking at the same event, Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell recalled Francis’s apology to survivors of clerical abuse during his trip to Ireland in 2018.
Archbishop Farrell said Francis led efforts to learn from the mistakes of the past and made the reporting of abuse mandatory within the Catholic Church.
“He made mistakes in his own life; he would admit that,” said Archbishop Farrell.
When he became Archbishop of Buenos Aires and later pope, Francis showed “great empathy for people who have suffered in their lives”, added Archbishop Farrell.
“It was because of that empathy that he was able to offer his apology to these people, and that’s a great mark of the man that we are mourning today,” said the Dublin prelate.
The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) was among the organisations paying tribute to the late pope.
“Inevitably, in the first rush of grief, we can overegg the significance of the deaths of those who carry our hopes and dreams of the future,” said an ACP spokesman.
However, the group added that, since the death of Pope John XXIII, no pontiff has garnered the same level of respect, warmth and love as Francis.
The ACP described Francis as “a man who captivated the world with his humanity and mediated the Gospel of Jesus through kindness, gentleness, mercy and, above all, through the hope he lived and represented in our world and in our Church”.
Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell said Pope Francis was “manifestly a modest man of immovable faith who felt no need to cling frantically on to old certainties which no longer served God or his people ... His loss will be felt very keenly throughout the Catholic world.”
The leaders of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Ireland also expressed their condolences.
Chief Rabbi of Ireland Yoni Wieder said Francis was “a man of principle, with a deep care for all people ... He unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism as a sin and as incompatible with true Christian faith, and he sought to strengthen the bonds between Catholic and Jewish communities.”
Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, chairman of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council, said Francis was a “beacon of peace, compassion, and unity ... His tireless calls for dialogue, justice, and love for one’s neighbour inspired millions around the world, transcending faith and background.”
