VATICAN CITY
Associated Press
By NICOLE WINFIELD and MARIA GRAZIA MURRU Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Thursday that Pope Francis’ apology to Chilean sex abuse victims and his request that the country’s bishops come to Rome to discuss reforms amounts to a “spiritual state of emergency” declaration for the Chilean Catholic church.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis’ letter to the Chilean hierarchy was an acknowledgment that he had made mistakes about abuse victims and that “yes, we believe you, you have your place in the church.”
In the letter Wednesday, Francis admitted he had made “grave errors” in evaluating the case of a bishop accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse. He invited the victims to Rome so he could personally apologize.
Francis blamed a lack of “truthful and balanced information” for his missteps in judging the case of Bishop Juan Barros, a protege of Chile’s most notorious predator priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima.
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