LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
March 19, 2019
A senior Catholic MP has written to Pope Francis warning him that the Church is facing its worst crisis since the Reformation.
Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, calls on the Pope to take “urgent and strong action” to renew the Catholic Church, arguing that even among the faithful, “there is widespread disillusion”.
Reiterating the comment by the Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge that the Church’s credibility is “shot to pieces”, Sir Edward says the policy must be one of zero tolerance: “Half measures will not do. Only root and branch reform will cut out this cancer.” Priests proven to have abused children must be stripped of the priesthood, he says, not just moved around, or covered up.
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