Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines urged bishops to reflect on the wounds of the risen Christ as they chart how best to serve survivors and to consider the role that forgiveness plays in their deliberations.

Choking up several times during his roughly 30-minute speech, the Filipino cardinal urged church leaders not to turn away from the wounds experienced by those who survived sexual abuse in the church.

“We need to put aside any hesitation to draw close to the wounds of our people out of fear of being wounded ourselves,” he said. “Our people need us to draw close to their wounds and acknowledge our faults if we are to give authentic and credible witness to our faith in the resurrection.”

Cardinal Tagle urged church leaders not to shy away from acknowledging the pain of victims.

“We should also be aware that victim-survivors suffer great stress, heightened anxiety and depression, lowered self-images and interpersonal conflicts that arise from the inner brokenness,” he said. “And, tragically, all of this has led some to suicide.”

Cardinal Tagle urged church leaders not to shy away from acknowledging the pain of victims.

He said if survivors of abuse seek healing with assistance from church leaders, the church should be prepared to offer resources.

“We are not suggesting that they just let it all go, excuse the abuse and move on. No, far from it,” he said. “But, we also know that when victims come to a moment of forgiving others who have harmed them, a deeper healing takes place and they reach a place of peace.”

“What we should do as leaders and as the church is to commit ourselves to continually walk in solidarity with those profoundly wounded by abuse at their own pace, building trust, providing unconditional love and repeatedly asking for forgiveness in the full recognition that we do not deserve that forgiveness in the order of justice but can only receive it when it is bestowed as gift and grace in the process of healing,” he said.

In another speech given later on Thursday, Cardinal Rubén Salazar Gómez, the archbishop of Bogota, laid out how a culture of clericalism exacerbated the abuse crisis in the church.

“In analyzing the way in which this crisis has generally been responded to, we encounter a mistaken understanding of how to exercise ministry that has led to serious errors of authority which have increased the severity of the crisis,” Cardinal Salazar said. “This has a name: clericalism.”

Pope Francis and his allies, including Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of four organizers of the summit, have repeatedly blamed clericalism for the crisis. In his talk, Cardinal Salazar reflected on how bishops have failed to take abuse allegations seriously in the past and said that more than new policies, a change in culture is needed.

Cardinal Salazar said it is “necessary to unmask the underlying clericalism and bring about a change of mentality,” adding, “in more precise terms, this change is called conversion.” He condemned bishops who acted like “the hirelings who, on seeing the wolf coming, flee and leave the flock unprotected.” He said ignoring victims, shuffling predatory priests and using settlements to “buy silence” are examples of how bishops have abandoned their flocks.

“There is no possible justification for not denouncing, not unmasking, not courageously and forcefully confronting any abuse that presents itself within our church,” Cardinal Salazar said, praising the media “for helping us to face the crisis rather than sidestep it.”

Cardinal Tagle also rejected the notion that bishops must choose between caring for victims and offering forgiveness to perpetrators, highlighting his work with Robert Enright, a psychologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who founded the International Forgiveness Institute. Dr. Enright is working with Catholic schools in Manila to provide education about forgiveness.

“Regarding victims, we need to help them to express their deep hurts and to heal from them,” the cardinal said. “Regarding the perpetrators, we need to serve justice, help them to face the truth without rationalization and at the same time not neglect their inner world.”

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In an interview with America following Cardinal Tagle’s talk, Dr. Enright said his research has found that survivors of trauma, including sexual abuse, report lower rates of depression when they include forgiveness in their healing process.

“Injustice is a wound,” Dr. Enright said, “but what happens after that wound is ever greater woundedness. The injustice leads to lots of complications, and the basic complication is what I’ve come to call resentment.” That resentment, he said, can manifest itself years later in depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges.

Forgiving the offender can help those suffering from the fallout of trauma—but Dr. Enright cautioned that forgiveness can never be expected from those who experience abuse, merely offered as a choice.

“It is not excusing; it is not forgetting; it is not throwing justice under the bus; it may or may not be reconciling,” he said.

Cardinal Tagle wrapped up his talk by asking bishops to consider four questions:

  • “How can we serve justice and foster forgiveness in the face of this wound of sexual abuse?
  • “How can we prevent distorting forgiveness so that we do not equate it with just letting the injustice slide away or move on and dismiss the wrong?
  • “How can we keep an accurate view of forgiveness as offering a startling mercy of unconditional love to those who have done wrong, while at the same time, we strive for justice?
  • “How can we renew the church by a firm correction of a definite wrong and walk with the abused, patiently and repeatedly begging forgiveness, knowing that giving such a gift can heal them even more?”

Transparency has been a key theme of the summit, heralded by both church leaders and victims’ advocates. The talks given by bishops on Feb. 21 were live streamed on the Vatican’s YouTube channel, but question-and-answer sessions following the speeches were not made public.

Follow our complete coverage of the Vatican summit

UPDATED at 12:17 p.m. ET with additional content from Cardinal Salazar’s presentation

Correction (Feb. 21, 2019; 2:55 p.m. ET): Cardinal Tagle was not one of the four members of the summit organizing committee as this article originally reported.

Michael J. O’Loughlin is national correspondent at America and author of Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.