31 Bishops from Chile Offer Resignation to Pope Francis over Sex-Abuse Scandal

Wiki
Rome: All 31 active bishops from Chile signed a document offering to resign after Pope Francis shamed them for ignoring or covering up sex abuse in the local churches. The Pope blamed the sex abuse on the fact that it was the practice of many bishops to send homosexual priests to teach at seminaries. The Pope himself has been implicated in the scandal because he appointed Juan Barros to the office of bishop over the objections of his victims. It is not expected that the Pope will accept the offer of resignation. -GEG

In the biggest shake-up yet in the Catholic Church’s long-running sex abuse scandal, every active Chilean bishop offered to resign Friday over what Pope Francis said was their “grave negligence” in investigating abuse and protecting children.

The bishops announced at the end of an emergency Vatican summit that all 31 active bishops in Rome had signed a document offering to resign.

Francis can accept the resignations, reject them or delay a decision, and the bishops remain in place until he acts. But the symbolic significance of an entire national bishops’ conference resigning en masse because they covered-up for pedophiles marked a historic moment in the decades-long saga.

“We want to ask forgiveness for the pain we caused victims, the pope, the people of God and our country for the grave errors and omissions that we committed,” the bishops said in a statement.

They thanked victims for their “perseverance and courage,” for having continued to denounce crimes and cover-up by the church despite “the incomprehension and attacks from the same church community.”

It marked the first known time that an entire national bishops conference had offered to step down over a scandal, and laid bare the devastation the abuse crisis has caused the Catholic Church in Chile and beyond.

“They didn’t know how to protect the weakest, exposed them to abuse and then impeded justice,” said Jose Andres Murillo, one of those abused and one of the main whistleblowers in the case. “For this, they deserve only to go.”

Calls for mass resignations had mounted after details emerged of the contents of a 2,300-page Vatican report into the Chilean scandal leaked early Friday. Francis had cited the report in footnotes of a 10-page document that he handed over to each Chilean bishop at the start of the summit.

In those footnotes, Francis accused the bishops of destroying evidence of sex crimes, pressuring church investigators to minimize abuse accusations and showing “grave negligence” in protecting children from pedophile priests.

“No one can exempt himself and place the problem on the shoulders of the others,” Francis wrote in the document, which was published by Chilean T13 television and confirmed as accurate Friday by the Vatican.

In a statement in response, the Chilean bishops said the contents of the document were “absolutely deplorable” and showed an “unacceptable abuse of power and conscience,” as well as sexual abuse.

“We want to re-establish justice and contribute to the reparation of the damage we caused,” they said.

Francis had summoned the 34 bishops to Rome after admitting that he had made “grave errors in judgment” in the case of Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused by victims of Chilean priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, of witnessing and ignoring their abuse.

Read full article here…

Visit our Classified ads.

Check out our Classified ads at the bottom of this page.

Recent stories & commentary

Classified Ads

The appearance of ads on this site does not signify endorsement by the publisher. We cannot vouch for accuracy of statements or integrity of advertisers. We will investigate complaints, however, and remove any message we find to be misleading or that promotes anything fraudulent or unethical.
For ad rates, click here.

Health


G. Edward Griffin’s blood pressure dropped to healthy levels and stayed there after using Cardio Miracle, a nitric-oxide booster containing a blend of ingredients that supports the body’s natural defense against heart disease, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimers, and more. If you are over 40, you really should check this out.


The Heavenly Handbook of Health. “WOW! U want FeedBack? So far I am floored. If I’ve learned anything about you since we met; this book has the potential to be a blockbuster.” Read 18pg Teaser @ HeavenlyHandbookofHealth.com Simple, incredible, affordable health – any age!



JWLABS – Building fine Rife frequency instruments in the USA since 1987.
We offer customer support and an exceptional warranty. Learn why all households and clinics should employ this device. Call us at 888-891-1122 to discuss the many benefits.   www.rifemachine.com



Learn Natural Medicine practice at home! There is NO Freedom without Health Freedom. There is NO Health Freedom without Informed, Voluntary Consent. There is no informed consent without education and understanding. American College of Natural Medicine, Thai Yoga Center provides you and your family with spiritually based natural health education. ThaiYogaCenter.Com or https://naic-edu.org


Health with space-age technology and Quantum physics. For people and all animals. No medication! Available world wide! Contact us at [email protected]. For principals and testimonials please visit our website. www.Healthytherapy.com


Income


Are you ready for financial freedom?
Visit:  www.MoneyThatsReal.com



Free Report: Three Major Shifts That Signal Risks to Your Investments Are Headed Higher. Including the one action every investor should take right now to protect their portfolio against significantly rising risks. http://BuyAndStoreGold.com/pl-geg/



Ultimate Wealth Building Guide reveals 5 steps to create your own banking system to achieve lifetime financial security, certainty, and peace of mind in 60 days. Discover how to build and grow lasting wealth safely and predictably, regardless of market and economic cycles. www.mywealthwarehouse.com


Make money on money you are already spending. Join the world’s largest shopping network. Eleven-year-old company in 46 countries. Info and free membership. www.freedombuildersinternational.com


Money & Banking


Lawful 100% income tax avoidance: a right recognized by IRS and Supreme Court. Request free report: [email protected] or find NoThanksIRS on FB/Twitter.


Need to Know


Being informed is not enough. Knowledge, by itself, is not power, but it holds the potential for power if used as a guide for action. Truth can be overpowered by tyranny only if we fail to enter the battle. The future belongs, not to ideas, but to people who act on those ideas. If you truly want to make a difference in the world, Freedom Force International awaits you.



Anxiety Publishing – providing more satisfying novels to the conscious community, stories based in a real world, not the illusion of the establishment. Promote your precious novel with your fellow authors and help build a collection of future classics. anxietypub.com


For Sale


Offline is a documentary on the inevitability of the Earth being slammed by a mega solar flare – not the common type that interrupts communications and creates a light show in the Northern skies – but the big brothers thousands of times more powerful. These monsters deliver enough energy to blow apart the master transformers that supply the planet’s energy grids. When that happens, the lights go out for longer than anyone wants to think about. These X-Class solar storms hit the Earth every 150 years, on average. The last one arrived 156 years ago. We are overdue (More)

 


Subscribe
Notify of
guest
2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Rocky
Rocky
5 years ago

Pope Francis is a political Pope not a religious Pope. That is why he was elected.

Boomer Lady
Boomer Lady
5 years ago

It really doesn’t matter if the pope accepts the resignations. What happens to the bishops if they simply refuse to perform their duties? They will lose their pensions, which may or may not be important to them, as they could go into another line of work. The Catholic Church can’t afford to lose more priests as the numbers are dwindling.