ROME
CBS NEWS
September 26, 2018
Pope Francis called sex abuse “monstrous” on his return flight from a four-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Tuesday. During his tour, he acknowledged for the first time that the recent sex abuse scandals have “put-off” many young people, turning them away from the church.
CBS News producer Anna Matranga was on the Papal flight back to Rome, and noted that despite being asked by journalists about the church sex abuse and cover-ups repeatedly, Pope Francis initially would only discuss his trip. Then, about 40 minutes into the press conference, he did return to address the topic.
“There are accusations against the church. We all know that. We know the statistics, I will not repeat them,” he said. Then he specifically addressed the Pennsylvania grand jury report which found that more than 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 victims of clerical sex abuse.
“Look at the report and you will see that when the church began to become aware of this, then we gave it our all to stop it,” he said. But Francis spoke just hours after yet another scathing study was released, this one by the Catholic Church in Germany.
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