YESTERDAY, POPE FRANCIS distributed a letter to Catholics around the world condemning the crime of sexual abuse by priests and the various cover ups of such abuse that have scandalised the church.
He said that, in future, “no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening”, adding that the church had shown “no care for the little ones; we abandoned them”.
The letter is broadly seen as a response to the most recent scandal to affect the church – the revelation last week that more than 1,000 children had been molested by hundreds of Catholic priests in Pennsylvania.
Reaction to the letter has not been universally positive, however, with clerical abuse victims’ group One in Four saying that survivors “are tired of meaningless apologies”, and that the letter doesn’t outline “one single concrete step” as to how abusers will be held accountable in future.
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We’re asking: Did Pope Francis’s letter regarding abuse within the priesthood go far enough?
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