The second day of a
historic Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse, involving bishops
from all over the world, opened on Friday.
On Thursday Pope Francis opened the gathering urging
"concrete measures" to combat the scourge of priestly sex abuse
and cover-ups.
Francis' road map contained 21 proposals ranging from
reporting cases to civil authorities to better selection of
priests.
On Thursday father Vinicio Albanesi, the head of a charity
shelter, revealed that he had been abused by priests while a
seminarian.
Bishops have often been blind to the consequences of sexual
abuse of minors, Cardinal Blasé J. Cupich, the archbishop of
Chicago, said Friday, the second day of a historic meeting at
the Vatican on clerical sexual abuse dedicated to the theme of
"Accountability".
In his report on 'Synodality: Shared Responsibility',
Cardinal Cupich said the parents of abuse victims have been
calling for accountability because they cannot understand how
bishops and leading clerics "have often been blind when faced
with the consequences and the damages of sex abuse on minors".
"Parents are vouching for the double reality that needs to be
pursued today in the Church: an incessant effort to eradicate
sexual abuse by the clergy and the refusal of clerical culture
that has so often generated that abuse", he said.
Cupich , 69, has also chaired between 2008 and 2011 the
committee for the protection of minors within the US Conference
of Catholic Bishops.
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