VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict accepted the resignation on Tuesday of a bishop in Chile accused of sexually abusing a minor, the latest in a series of such scandals to rock the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican did not specify the reason for the resignation of Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of the city of Iquique but it followed a complaint by a local man, Rodrigo Pino, who said he had been abused by the prelate when he was 15.
The Vatican, as it has done in similar cases, said only that the resignation was in conformity with an article of Church law which says bishops must step down if they are unable to fulfill their duties because of health or “another serious reason”. …
Ordenes’ resignation as bishops from around the world met at the Vatican to discuss how to woo back lapsed Catholics in developed countries, where the Church is battling increasing secularism in places where it was once strong.
Many Catholics say they have left the Church in disgust over the sexual abuse scandals of the last 12 years.
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