Clergy abuse survivor ends hunger strike

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – A clergy sex abuse survivor has ended his hunger strike a week after saying he would not eat until the Vatican acknowledged Pope Francis had received messages he sent from several Massachusetts victims and their families.

Olan Horne tells The Berkshire Eagle that although he never got the response he sought from Rome, the actions of a Massachusetts prosecutor prompted him to start eating again. The 59-year-old Chester man had gone a week taking only water.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni on Tuesday announced the creation of a telephone hotline for survivors and their families to report priest abuse. Horne had requested such a hotline for years.

Horne in a letter to Gulluni says his hunger strike was about giving victims a voice, and the hotline gives them that voice.

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Information from: The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle, http://www.berkshireeagle.com