VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Businessweek
By Andrew Davis on March 04, 2013
The next pope must have zero tolerance for priests who sexually abuse children, a scandal that’s left a “wound on the body of the church,” U.S. Cardinal Francis George said.
Catholic cardinals met at the Vatican today as they prepare to set a date for the secret conclave to choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned Feb. 28. The issue of sexual abuse by priests will be on their minds during the conclave, George said at a press conference in Rome today.
“It’s certainly in the minds and hearts of many of us because we have victims now, and they are not just victims of sexual abuse by teachers or politician or fathers or uncles, but they have been abused by Catholic priests, sometimes by Catholic bishops and sometimes the abuse has not been addressed,” said George, the archbishop of Chicago.
U.S. cardinals were instrumental in pushing the church to change its universal code to include zero tolerance for priests who abuse children, he said.
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