VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph
August 20, 2018
By Olivia Rudgard
There will be “no more cover ups” of sexual abuse in the Church, the Pope has vowed in a letter to all Catholics.
In the groundbreaking document, addressed to the “people of God”, Pope Francis admitted that the church had “delayed” the implementation of reforms and asked believers to “join forces in uprooting this culture of death”.
He said the church had “showed no care for the little ones” and “abandoned them”.
The Vatican said it was the first time a pope had written to all of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics about sexual abuse.
The Pope’s letter, published on Monday, responds to a report published last week by a grand jury which disclosed that more than 1,000 children had been abused by 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania over the past 70 years.
“Even though it can be said that most of these cases belong to the past, nonetheless as time goes on we have come to know the pain of many of the victims,” he said.
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