VATICAN CITY
NBC News
February 5, 2019
By Claudio Lavanga and Corky Siemaszko
But scope of problem worldwide remains unclear as victims are reluctant to come forward and church leaders are slow to admit behavior of predator clergy.
Pope Francis for the first time publicly acknowledged that nuns have also been the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of predator priests and bishops.
Vowing to do more to protect vulnerable nuns, the pontiff also credited his predecessor, Pope Benedict, with taking action against a French-based order after some of its nuns were subjected to “sexual slavery.”
“Should we do something more? Yes,” Francis told reporters during a press conference on the papal flight back to Rome from his historic two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates. “Is there the will? Yes. But it’s a path that we have already begun.”
“It’s not something that everyone does, but there have been priests and even bishops who have done what you say,” Francis added. “And I think that it’s continuing because it’s not like once you realize it that it stops. It continues. And for some time we’ve been working on it.”
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