All Chilean bishops quit after Pope Francis accuses them of destroying evidence of sex crimes against children
Such behaviour has been the hallmark of the clerical sex abuse crisis worldwide, with bishops and religious superiors shuttling abusers around from parish to parish or dioceses
Thirty-four Chilean bishops have resigned over a child sex abuse scandal within the Church in Chile after three days of meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican, a spokesman for the bishops said on Friday.
“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,” a statement read out by the spokesman said.
Francis accused Chile’s bishops of destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring church lawyers to minimise accusations and of “grave negligence” in protecting children from paedophile priests.
In a devastating 10-page document delivered to Chilean bishops during a summit this week, Francis said the entire Chilean church hierarchy was collectively responsible for “grave defects” in handling abuse cases and the resulting loss of credibility that the Catholic Church has suffered.
The document, reported by Chile’s T13 television and confirmed as authentic Friday by the Vatican, puts mounting pressure on the bishops as a whole to resign given Francis told them that “no one can exempt himself and place the problem on the shoulders of the others.”