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| In a statement, the 34 Chilean bishops asked "forgiveness for the pain caused to the victims" |
Thirty-four
Chilean bishops announced their resignation Friday over a child sex abuse
scandal within the Church in Chile that has come to haunt the reign of Pope
Francis.
"We,
all the bishops present in Rome, have tendered our resignation to the Holy
Father so that he may decide freely for each of us," the bishops said in a
statement after three days of intense meetings with Francis at the Vatican.
"We
want to ask forgiveness for the pain caused to the victims, to the Pope, to
God's people and to our country for the serious errors and omissions we have
committed," the statement continued.
The
striking announcement came after the pontiff summoned the bishops over the
scandal.
Several
members of the Chilean church hierarchy are accused by victims of ignoring and
covering up child abuse by Chilean paedophile priest Fernando Karadima during
the 1980s and 1990s.
On Thursday
evening, Francis promised "changes" to the Chilean church to
"restore justice" in a short declaration to the bishops, made public.
But in a
confidential 10-page document leaked Friday by Chilean TV channel T13, the
Argentine pope goes much further in his indictment of the Chilean Church.
The letter
-- handed to the bishops at the start of their meetings with Francis -- evokes
"crimes" and "painful and shameful sexual abuse of minors,
abuses of power and conscience by ministers of the Church".
It
qualifies the removal of certain prelates from their roles as necessary but
"insufficient," calling for "the roots" that allowed for
such abuse within an "elitist and authoritarian" Chilean Church to be
examined.
Evidence
destroyed
The damning
letter also outlines findings of an investigation, ordered by Pope Francis,
into the abuse allegations.
It says the
probe found senior Church officials had destroyed proof in cases of sex abuse
and that certain members of the clergy who had displayed immoral behaviour had
been transferred to other dioceses after attempts to "minimise" the
gravity of their actions.
Grave
accusations "were superficially qualified as improbable", the letter
says, denouncing bishops for their "terrible negligence in protecting
children".
Pope
Francis bids to repair some of the damage done during his visit to Chile in
January, when his defence of controversial Chilean bishop Juan Barros --
accused of covering up Karadima's abuses -- caused a public outcry.
The pontiff
at the time said he was convinced that Barros was innocent and demanded
"proof" before he would speak out against him.
Francis
later apologised to the victims, three of whom he recently received at the
Vatican, and admitted he had made "grave mistakes" after reading the
2,300-page report on the abuse in Chile.
The mass
resignation of an entire delegation of bishops is almost unheard of, having
last happened two centuries ago.
Bishops
have, however, previously been summoned to the Vatican over abuse scandals.
In April
2002, Pope John Paul II summoned 13 American cardinals and bishops to Rome
after a huge paedophilia scandal within the clergy. Following another abuse
scandal in Ireland in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI also organised a meeting of Irish
prelates at the Vatican in February 2010.
'Their
day has come'
Speaking at
the Vatican Friday morning, the Chilean bishops said: "We thank the
victims for their perseverance and courage, despite the enormous personal,
spiritual, social and family difficulties they had to face, to which were often
added the incomprehension and attacks of the Church community."
Two of
Karadima's victims tweeted their relief on Twitter in response to the
resignations.
"Those
who caused so much pain, sometimes worse than the abuse, are now all quitting.
The Pope heard what we asked of him in our conversations with survivors from
all over the world. For those who did so much damage, their day has come
today," wrote Juan Carlos Cruz.
Similarly
Jose Andres Murillo tweeted: "For dignity, justice and truth: all the
bishops leave. Criminals. They failed to protect the weakest, exposed them to
abuse and then prevented justice. So, they just deserve to leave."
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