The bicyclists made several stops along their journey to Rome, including in Bolzano, in northern Italy, on May 8, where they were greeted by Bishop Ivo Muser of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone, and by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising.
The authors of the letter said they were all, as children or young people, the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests or male or female religious.
“The message of the Gospel has been perverted by the perpetrators of the crimes. The victims still suffer the consequences today and their lives are still affected and limited in different ways and intensities,” the victims said.
“What they have in common is the wounded heart, the great wound of life that hurts day after day,” they added, noting that every time there is a new report of abuse in the Church, or of cover-up and failure by her leaders, “scars reopen and wounds begin to bleed again.”
The letter said there are victims of abuse who cannot and do not want to leave the Church and their faith, “who continue to hope and expect that those in charge of the Catholic Church will consistently and decisively address the abuses of the past and do everything to ensure that the Church is a safe place for children and young people, where they can experience the beauty and liberation of the message of Jesus Christ.”
They quoted Psalm 147:3, which says the Lord is “healing the brokenhearted, and binding up their wounds.”