London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2025

Catholic Church sexual abuse survivor wants Pope Francis to listen

Catholic Church sexual abuse survivor wants Pope Francis to listen

When Mark Murray tells Pope Francis of the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at a Catholic priest training school, he just wants the Pope to listen.

Mr Murray is one of seven sexual abuse survivors from St Peter Claver College in West Yorkshire who will meet the Pope in private on Monday morning.

He endured repeated abuse by a priest at the former junior seminary between 1969, when he joined aged 13, and 1974.

"I don't want an apology, I want them to listen to me," said Mr Murray, 65.

"A forced apology isn't a true one."

Mr Murray was one of 11 former trainee priests who shared a £120,000 settlement from The Verona Fathers, a Roman Catholic mission now known as Comboni Missionaries, over abuse suffered in the 1960s and 70s.

The men have also received an apology from the Bishop of Leeds, but will now share their testimonies with Pope Francis after the body responsible for dealing with child sexual abuse in the Church helped set up the meeting.


Years of psychotherapy


"My statement will come from a more personal aspect - what their treatment has done to me as a person and to my family," said Mr Murray, who now lives in Denbighshire.

Pope Francis will hear the sexual abuse survival stories of seven men who trained at a Catholic church priest training school


"I dealt with the abuse I suffered as a child through years of psychotherapy. It's much harder to deal with the response of some of the institutions towards me."

The father-of-two, who lives in St Asaph, said he couldn't talk about his ordeal for more than 20 years before he began civil action in 1995 to fight for an acknowledgment of what happened to him from the order which ran the seminary.


'They know what happened'


"Where I'm coming from is the impact of the Combonis having no engagement with us," said Mr Murray.

"They know what happened - but there's never been an admission that abuse took place."

Bede Mullen (left) and Mark Murray (right) were two boys abused at St Peter Claver College


"This meeting shouldn't be taking place - it should've been sorted decades ago. If the Comboni Order had listened with their hearts in 1995 this could have been sorted," he said.

"We didn't want what happened to us happening to other people, so you push for a meeting with the highest person in the Catholic Church."

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales whose leadership has been criticised in the Church child sexual abuse scandal, is also attending Monday's meeting with the Pope.


'Sorry for the pain and trauma'


The Bishop of Leeds, Marcus Stock, in whose diocese the college in Mirfield was situated, will also be at the meeting after he offered the victims a "heartfelt and unreserved apology" last year.

The Right Reverend Stock said sorry for the "pain and trauma experienced when you were students at Mirfield and for the spiritual suffering and emotional distress which continues to affect you to this day".

The abuse took place in the 1960s and 70s before St Peter Claver College in Mirfield was shut in 1984


Mr Murray has said he doesn't know what the Pope will say, all they know is the meeting is at 09:00 in Rome (08:00 BST).


Healing process


"I'm not sure if the meeting includes our partners or just the group of seven men from Mirfield," he added.

Members of the Comboni Survivors' Group hope the visit will help them as part of the healing process, but say they still want justice from the Comboni Order.

The congregation, now known as the Comboni Missionaries, was founded in 1867 by Daniele Comboni and is a Catholic clerical male religious group.

The Bishop of Leeds said the Pope was aware the men had not had an "adequate pastoral response" from the leadership of the Comboni Order


They have "publicly apologised for any abuse suffered by former seminarians" and added that they "acknowledge the harm caused by child abuse".

"It was with great sadness and regret that we learned about the allegations of non-recent abuse relating to our former junior seminary which closed in 1984," said a Comboni Missionaries spokesperson.

"We have worked hard to respond with seriousness and sensitivity to the complaints and claims made, have fully supported and cooperated with the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse - and are working with a respected specialist charity to provide counselling and facilitate meetings."

The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) has said they will do "everything in their power" to help with "any issue of Church-related abuse and suffering".

"We are acutely aware of the survivors' concerns and we are actively engaged with them and with representatives of the Order to bring them together to address these concerns," said CSSA chairman Nazir Afzal.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Mortgage Rules to Give Greater Flexibility to Borrowers With Irregular Incomes
UK Treasury Moves to Position Britain as Leading Global Hub for Crypto Firms
U.S. Freezes £31 Billion Tech Prosperity Deal With Britain Amid Trade Dispute
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Potential UK Return Gains New Momentum Amid Security Review and Royal Dialogue
Zelensky Opens High-Stakes Peace Talks in Berlin with Trump Envoy and European Leaders
Historical Reflections on Press Freedom Emerge Amid Debate Over Trump’s Media Policies
UK Boosts Protection for Jewish Communities After Sydney Hanukkah Attack
UK Government Declines to Comment After ICC Prosecutor Alleges Britain Threatened to Defund Court Over Israel Arrest Warrant
Apple Shutters All Retail Stores in the United Kingdom Under New National COVID-19 Lockdown
US–UK Technology Partnership Strains as Key Trade Disagreements Emerge
UK Police Confirm No Further Action Over Allegation That Andrew Asked Bodyguard to Investigate Virginia Giuffre
Giuffre Family Expresses Deep Disappointment as UK Police Decline New Inquiry Into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Claims
Transatlantic Trade Ambitions Hit a Snag as UK–US Deal Faces Emerging Challenges
Ex-ICC Prosecutor Alleges UK Threatened to Withdraw Funding Over Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Bid
UK Disciplinary Tribunal Clears Carter-Ruck Lawyer of Misconduct in OneCoin Case
‘Pink Ladies’ Emerge as Prominent Face of UK Anti-Immigration Protests
Nigel Farage Says Reform UK Has Become Britain’s Largest Party as Labour Membership Falls Sharply
Google DeepMind and UK Government Launch First Automated AI Lab to Accelerate Scientific Discovery
UK Economy Falters Ahead of Budget as Growth Contracts and Confidence Wanes
Australia Approves Increased Foreign Stake in Strategic Defence Shipbuilder
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proclaims, “For Ukraine, surrendering their land would be a nightmare.”
Microsoft Challenges £2.1 Billion UK Cloud Licensing Lawsuit at Competition Tribunal
Fake Doctor in Uttar Pradesh Accused of Killing Woman After Performing YouTube-Based Surgery
Hackers Are Hiding Malware in Open-Source Tools and IDE Extensions
Traveling to USA? Homeland Security moving toward requiring foreign travelers to share social media history
UK Officials Push Back at Trump Saying European Leaders ‘Talk Too Much’ About Ukraine
UK Warns of Escalating Cyber Assault Linked to Putin’s State-Backed Operations
UK Consumer Spending Falters in November as Households Hold Back Ahead of Budget
UK Orders Fresh Review of Prince Harry’s Security Status After Formal Request
U.S. Authorises Nvidia to Sell H200 AI Chips to China Under Security Controls
Trump in Direct Assault: European Leaders Are Weak, Immigration a Disaster. Russia Is Strong and Big — and Will Win
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
×