VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

By Naomi O’Leary

VATICAN CITY, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Church must strengthen safeguards against any further sexual abuse of children by its clergy and expand the role of women in the Church, a Canadian bishop said on Friday in a speech to hundreds of his peers at a Vatican conference.

In his address to the Synod of Bishops, convened to discuss how to battle dwindling numbers of practicing Catholics in the face of growing secularisation and dissent against its teachings, Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn called on the Church to “become more authentic in our contemporary world”.

Synod documents have so far largely focused on the role of external factors like consumerism and secularism in eroding belief, and its concluding document will be scrutinised for any mention of failures within the Church itself.