Pope Francis pens apology in light of rampant church sex abuse
The pontiff responds to new claims of assaults and cover-ups by Catholic clerics with a message of contrition, citing ‘the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives.’
When a crisis personally affects so many, so profoundly, an institutional response just won’t do.
That’s when the top executive, regardless of the organization, must speak out—in unvarnished terms.
A new report reveals the systemic concealment of rampant sex abuse of minors throughout Pennsylvania in the latest scandal—and the worst since 2002—involving sexual misconduct within the Catholic Church.
Abuse complaints were kept in the church’s so-called secret archive and church officials hid incidents, neglected to discipline priests or report them to law enforcement, according to the 1,356-page report.
“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all,” the report said.
At first, the Vatican issued a formal, rather arid response.
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