Catholic Bishops Vow to Hold Themselves Accountable for Sexual Abuse and Cover-Ups

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

June 13, 2019

by Liam Stack

America’s Roman Catholic bishops voted on Thursday to enact a new oversight system intended to hold them accountable for abuse and cover-ups, a move meant to restore faith in a church whose epidemic of misconduct has driven away parishioners and attracted the attention of state and federal law enforcement.

The move was endorsed at a high-stakes gathering in Baltimore of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It came one month after Pope Francis issued a sweeping edict that ordered church officials around the world to report cases of sexual abuse — and attempted cover-ups — to their superiors. The decree gave bishops one year to establish new procedures.

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