Pope summons bishops for February abuse prevention summit
Source: The Washington Post
By Nicole Winfield?|?AP
September 12 at 8:03 AM
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is summoning the presidents of every bishops conference around the world for a February summit to discuss preventing clergy sex abuse and protecting children — evidence that he realizes the scandal is global and that inaction threatens to undermine his legacy.
Francis’ key cardinal advisers announced the decision Wednesday, a day before Francis meets with U.S. church leaders who have been deeply discredited by the latest accusations in the Catholic Church’s decades-long sex abuse and cover-up scandal.
The Feb. 21-24 meeting at the Vatican is believed to be the first of its kind, and signals a realization at the highest levels of the church that clergy sex abuse is a global problem and not restricted to the Anglo-Saxon world, as many church leaders have long tried to insist.
Earlier this year, Francis faced what was then the worst crisis of his papacy when he repeatedly discredited victims of a notorious Chilean predator priest. He eventually admitted to “grave errors in judgment” and has taken steps to make amends, sanction guilty bishops and remake the Chilean episcopacy.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-summons-bishops-for-february-abuse-prevention-summit/2018/09/12/a8f1f75c-b67f-11e8-ae4f-2c1439c96d79_story.html
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