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20th September 2018
11:39am BST
Bono has spoken out about his meeting with the Pope at the Vatican, where they discussed the clerical abuse scandal and “the wild beast that is capitalism”.
The U2 frontman had a half-hour private audience with the pontiff this week on behalf of his ONE Foundation, which aims to tackle extreme poverty.
Speaking about their meeting, Bono said, “Having just come from Ireland, inevitably, we talked about his (being) aghast about what has happened in the Church," as reported by Reuters.
#PopeFrancis meets Wednesday with singer Paul David Hewson - #Bono Vox of @U2 fame - who expressed his support for the Pontifical Foundation Scholas Occurrentes and its mission to educate young people around the world. pic.twitter.com/4pWxdzyOCe
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) September 19, 2018
He continued, “I explained to him how it looks to some people that the abusers are being more protected than the victims and you could see the pain in his face.
“I felt he was sincere and I think he is an extraordinary man for extraordinary times.”
The pope spent time with eight clerical abuse victims during his visit to Ireland last month where he apologised and said it “remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community”.
His visit was met with serious backlash by victims and their supporters and thousands of people attended a solidarity rally for them which clashed with the pope's Phoenix Park mass.
