Pope Francis says clergy sex abuse can 'never be repeated' and other updates

Los Angeles Times
September 23, 2015

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pope-visit-day-one-htmlstory.html

On the first day of his American visit Pope Francis wasted no time delving into difficult issues: clergy sex abuse, immigration and climate change. In lighter moments, he was welcomed to the White House by thousands of cheering onlookers, posed for a selfie with spectators and took a brief ride on the Ellipse in a popemobile.

One sentence captures it all: Clergy sex abuse, abortion and immigration.

Speaking to hundreds of U.S. bishops at St. Mathew's Cathedral in Washington, Pope Francis delved into one of the church's most difficult issues: the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The pontiff told bishops that they must "work to ensure" that those crimes "will never be repeated."

"I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you, and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims -- in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed -- and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated," Francis said.