During Mass in front of 300,000 people in Dublin on Sunday, Pope Francis apologized for "crimes" committed by the Catholic Church, including the sexual and physical abuse of children at schools and churches.
"We ask forgiveness for those members of the hierarchy who didn't take responsibility for this painful situation, and who kept silence," he said. "May the Lord keep this state of shame and compunction and give us strength so this never happens again, and there is justice." While Mass was taking place, protesters gathered in the town of Tuam, where several decades ago almost 800 children and babies died at a Catholic-run orphanage.
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