Pope Says Bishops Covered up Sex Abuse, by Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, September 28, 2015

Pope Says Bishops Covered up Sex Abuse

By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
September 28, 2015

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/28/pope-says-bishops-covered-up-sex-abuse/72961932/

Pope Francis address the crew and press core aboard the papal plane while en route to Italy on September 28, 2015.

Pope Francis address the crew and press core aboard the papal plane while en route to Italy on September 28, 2015.

Pope Francis said there are bishops who covered up child sex abuse and who will be held accountable. His remarks were to reporters on his flight home after leaving the United States Sunday.

Moving to erase any doubt about the how serious he views crimes against children in the church, the pontiff said he wanted to make clear that his words of consolation toward bishops made earlier Sunday after he visited with five sexual assault victims not be taken out of context.

"I felt the need to express compassion because something really terrible happened," Francis said of those earlier comments on child abuse, "and many of them (bishops) suffered who did not know of this."

But those bishops who were aware and who did not report them will be held accountable, he said. "Those who have covered up these things are guilty," the pope said, according to a Newsday report. "And some bishops covered this up, and it is a very ugly thing."

The church has come under fire in the past for holding priests accountable, while failing to punish bishops who hid the crimes.

Francis was speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane that arrived in Rome early Monday after concluding nine days of travel first to Cuba and then to Washington, D.C., for a historic address before Congress, before traveling to New York City and Philadelphia.

According to the Associated Press, the 78-year-old pope described his reception in Washington, D.C., as warm, "but a bit more formal. In New York," he said, "(It was) a bit beyond all limits."

For a church where women have never played a role in leadership, Francis reiterated for reporters his high praise of American nuns and said they were "marvels" at education.

"The people of the United States love their nuns," the pope said, according to AP. "I don't know how much they love their priests, but they love their nuns. And they are great. They are great, great women."