All Chile’s 34 bishops offer resignation to Pope over sex abuse scandals

Related Articles

• Exclusive: The 53 photos that tell the 67 years Amissah-Arthur lived 1 28.Jul
• High court backs NCA’s 45km maximum coverage radius for radio stations 0 19.Jun
• Court issues warrant for arrest of Jospong boss 0 15.Feb

All of Chile’s 34 Roman Catholic bishops have offered Pope Francis their resignations in the wake of a child sex scandal and cover-up.

They asked forgiveness from victims and the Church for their “grave errors and omissions”.

It was not immediately clear whether the Pope had accepted the resignations.

He had been criticised in Chile for his decision to ordain a bishop who is accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by a priest.

He said in January that he felt “pain and shame” over the scandal, which has rocked the Catholic Church in Chile.

The bishops offered their resignation by letter after three days of crisis talks at the Vatican, during which the Pope handed them a 10-page document accusing Chile’s Church hierarchy of negligence in sex abuse cases.

The bishops wrote that their individual futures were in the Pope’s hands, and if he did not accept their resignations, they would “continue doing our pastoral work”.

“In communion with (the Pope) we want to re-establish justice and contribute to repairing the damage caused,” they wrote.