The Catholic Church in Chile has been hit been by a sex scandal which saw the resignation of 34 Catholic Bishops in the country, after 3 days intense meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The 34 Catholic Bishops who announced their resignation on Friday over a child sex abuse scandal within the Church in Chile, also issued a statement to confirm the report.

“We, all the bishops present in Rome, have tendered our resignation to the Holy Father so that he may decide freely for each of us,” the bishops said in a statement.

“We want to ask forgiveness for the pain caused to the victims, to the Pope, to God’s people and to our country for the serious errors and omissions we have committed,” the statement continued.

Pope Francis had on Thursday promised “changes” to the Chilean church to “restore justice” in a short declaration to the bishops, made public. The resignation however came after the pontiff summoned the bishops over the scandal.

Calls had mounted for the resignations after details emerged of the contents of a 2,300-page Vatican report into the Chilean scandal leaked early Friday. Pope Francis had accused the bishops of destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring investigators to minimize abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protecting children from pedophile priests.

The letter — handed to the bishops at the start of their meetings with Francis — evokes “crimes” and “painful and shameful sexual abuse of minors, abuses of power and conscience by ministers of the Church”.

It qualifies the removal of certain prelates from their roles as necessary but “insufficient,” calling for “the roots” that allowed for such abuse within an “elitist and authoritarian” Chilean Church to be examined.

The mass resignation of an entire delegation of bishops is almost unheard of, having last happened two centuries ago.

The Chilean church has been rocked by the allegations of abuse by Karadima and others, and by claims that senior figures knew about or even witnessed what was going on. Now 87 and living in a nursing home in Chile, Karadima has always denied the allegations.

https://lailasnews.com/34-catholic-bishops-resign-en-masse-over-child-abuse-scandal/

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