Pope leads top cardinals in atoning for a host of sins ahead of a new phase of reform effort

ROME -- Pope Francis launched the second phase of his big Catholic reform project Tuesday by asking forgiveness for a host of sins, reasoning that the church must atone for its transgressions if it wants to re-establish credibility with the faithful.

Fresh off a difficult visit to Belgium, where the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal and its treatment of women troubled the pope at every turn, Francis led top cardinals in apologizing for everything from the destruction of the planet to the discrimination of women and rejection of migrants.

“How can we be credible in our mission if we don't recognize our own errors and bow down to heal the wounds that we have caused with our sins?” Francis asked.

The penitential service in St. Peter's Basilica preceded the official start Wednesday of the synod, a three-week meeting of more than 360 bishops and lay people to discuss the future of the church. The most pressing agenda items include calls for women to have greater decision-making roles in the church.

The Vatican organized the vigil service as a way to prepare spiritually for the meeting, on the grounds that naming sins and asking for their forgiveness was a necessary step to begin again.

In one dramatic moment during the service, a man who was sexually violated by a priest as a child, Laurence Gien, told his story to a hushed basilica. He denounced the “veil of secrecy,” and lack of transparency and accountability in the church’s response to abuse, which he said had shaken the faith of millions.

“When an institution as prominent as the Catholic Church fails to protect its most vulnerable members, it sends a message that justice and accountability are negotiable — when in reality, they should be fundamental,” he said.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Francis’ longtime adviser on child protection strategies, was called on to read out the request for forgiveness for the abuse scandal, one of seven top cardinals who read aloud petitions for forgiveness that Francis himself had written.

“I ask forgiveness, feeling shame, for all the times we have used the condition of ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected while we were profiting diabolically from the little ones and the poor,” said O'Malley, the retired archbishop of Boston.

The abuse and cover-up scandal that has convulsed the church for decades has devastated the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy in many countries and helped contribute to sharp declines in the faith. Internally, the crisis has fueled calls for broader reform to de-emphasize the importance of priests and value more the contributions of rank-and-file Catholics, especially women.