Pope: Rapist Priests Are Eroding Trust In The Church

The Associated Press reports:

Pope Francis gave a new mandate to his sex abuse advisory commission Friday, telling its members to work with bishops around the world to establish special welcome centers for victims and to audit the church’s progress on fighting abuse from its new perch within the Vatican. Francis warned that without more accountability from the church, the faithful would continue to lose trust in the Catholic hierarchy after decades of revelations about priests who raped and molested children superiors who covered up those crimes.

Francis issued the new marching orders during a meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which he created in 2013 as an ad hoc body to advise on best practices to protect minors and prevent abuse. Despite the fanfare that greeted its creation, the commission’s limited mandate has frustrated survivors, its outsider status generated resistance in the Vatican and one of its biggest initial recommendations — a special Vatican tribunal to prosecute bishops who covered up for pedophiles — went nowhere.

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Pope Francis gives a new mandate to his sex abuse advisory commission: Establish special welcome centers for victims and audit progress on fighting abusehttps://t.co/XKfhMUkI8l

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