Athen Banner-Herald
By NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS – published Monday, September 28, 20150
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE | Pope Francis has defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops over the priest sex abuse scandal but says — for the first time — that those who covered up for abusers are guilty of wrongdoing.
In a wide-ranging press conference en route to Rome from his first-ever visit to the United States, Francis also declared conscience objection a “human right,” explained his love affair with American nuns and discussed his own star-power, which was fully on display during his six-day, three-city tour.
He also invented a new Italian word to describe the exuberant reception he received in New York City: “stralimitata” — roughly, “beyond all limits.”
On his last day in the U.S., Francis on Sunday met with five survivors of sexual abuse and issued a warning to bishops that they would be held accountable if they failed to protect their flocks.
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