Pope Francis closed out the Vatican’s four-day summit on sexual abuse by clergy on Sunday with a vow to confront abusers with “the wrath of God,” end cover-ups by their superiors, and prioritize the victims of what he called a “brazen, aggressive, and destructive evil.” At the end of Mass before nearly 200 Catholic bishops and other leaders, he offered an eight-point pledge of priorities going forward, calling for a change in the church’s defensive mentality and a vow to never again cover up cases.
Vatican summit brings little hope for change
Family | The historic meeting kicks off with historically low expectations
by Kiley Crossland
Posted 2/22/19, 03:00 pm
Pope Francis opened a four-day summit at the Vatican Thursday on preventing clergy sexual abuse by demanding action, not just condemnation. But critics are skeptical the meetings will set a new course for the church, particularly because the narrow focus of the gathering may fail to address the root cause of the crisis.
Organizers decided to restrict the topic of the summit to the sexual abuse of minors, bypassing two glaring issues some argue should be on the agenda: the sexual abuse of adults, especially seminarians and nuns, and homosexuality among Catholic leaders.
Apologies and revelations before Catholic sex abuse summit
by Kiley Crossland
Posted 2/19/19, 12:45 pm
Catholic religious orders from around the world issued public apologies on Tuesday for failing to address sexual abuse of children by their priests. Two umbrella organizations representing the global religious orders of the Catholic Church—the Union of Superiors General for male orders and the International Union of Superiors General for female orders—issued a joint statement days before a sexual abuse summit organized by Pope Francis is set to begin on Thursday.
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