WASHINGTON (DC)
RTE News (Ireland)
Pope Francis has told US Catholic bishops that “crimes” of sexual abuse of minors by clergy should never be repeated.
“I know how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you, and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims … and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated,” he told the bishops on his first visit to the United States.
During his six days in the US, the pope may meet privately with victims of sexual abuse.
The Vatican has said an eventual meeting would be announced after it takes place in order to protect the privacy of the victims.
An estimated 6,400 Catholic clergy have been accused of abusing minors in the United States between 1950 and 1980.
In June, Francis sacked two US bishops accused of looking the other way: the archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, John Clayton Nienstedt, and his aide Lee Anthony Piche.
And earlier this month the Vatican replaced Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, who resigned in April after failing to report a priest accused of pedophilia.
Earlier, cheering crowds greeted Pope Francis in the streets of Washington as he rode in his open pope mobile near the White House following talks with President Barack Obama.
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