The summit involving the presidents of every bishops conference was announced a day before Francis meets US church leaders hit by fresh accusations over the cover-up of sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
The February 21-24 meeting at the Vatican is believed to be the first of its kind, and signals a realisation at the highest levels of the church that clergy sex abuse is a global problem.
Earlier this year, Francis faced what was then the worst crisis of his papacy when he repeatedly discredited victims of a notorious Chilean predator priest.
He eventually admitted to “grave errors in judgment” and has taken steps to make amends, sanction guilty bishops and reform the Chilean episcopacy.
More recently, Francis’s papacy has been jolted by accusations from a retired Vatican ambassador that he rehabilitated a top American cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI for having molested and harassed adult seminarians.
The Vatican has not responded to the accusations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano but has promised “clarifications” that presumably will come some time after Francis’s meeting on Thursday with the US delegation.
The Vatican said the meeting would be headed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and also include Francis’s top sex abuse adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley.
Mr Di Nardo has said he wants Francis to…
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.