AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
August 22, 2018
By Danny Tran and James Oaten
Melbourne’s new Archbishop Peter Comensoli has told parishioners he is “strongly committed” to reporting sexual abuse within the Church, but also wants to “uphold the seal of confession”.
The comments come days after the Pope wrote an open letter to Catholics apologising for abuse within the church.
The letter, penned by the Supreme Pontiff and addressed to all Catholics, begged forgiveness for abandoning the vulnerable and protecting the powerful, and was written in response to devastating allegations of misconduct by the church in the United States.
“We showed no care for the little ones, we abandoned them,” Pope Francis wrote.
“The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced.”
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