VATICAN CITY
ABC News
By FRANCES D’EMILIO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — Jan 2, 2017
Pope Francis has exhorted Catholic bishops worldwide to do what’s needed to ensure children are protected from sexual abuse by clergy.
The Vatican on Monday released the text of a Dec. 28 letter Francis sent to bishops about injustices to children. They included slave labor, malnutrition, lack of education and sexual exploitation, including abuse by priests.
In the letter, Francis decried “the sufferings, the experiences and pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.”
“It is a sin that shames us,” the pope wrote. “Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity.”
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