Body of Christ torn by abuse scandals

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 13 - The body of Christ has been "lacerated" by clerical sex-abuse scandals, the head of the US Bishops Conference Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said after US bishops had an audience with Pope Francis Thursday.
    DiNardo, who is archbishop of Galveston-Houston, said "we are grateful to the Holy father for having received us in audience.
    We shared with Pope Francis our situation in the United States - how the body of Christ is lacerated by the evil of sex abuse.
    "He listened very deeply, from the heart. It was a long, fruitful and good exchange".
    Talks focused on the "recent moral crisis in the American Catholic Church", he said, after a Pennsylvania report that over 1,000 minors were abused by 300 priests over 70 years.
    Francis, separately, has been urged to resign by a former US nuncio for allegedly covering up the sex crimes of former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick.