Philadelphia Archbishop Asks Pope To Cancel Meeting Due To Abuse Crisis
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Archbishop Charles Chaput, the representative of the Southeastern Pennsylvania dioceses including Philadelphia, is asking Pope Francis to call off an assembly of bishops due to the concerns of young people in the church.
The nearly month-long assembly, set for October and to take place in Rome, seeks to address the topic of "Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment".
"I have written the Holy Father and called on him to cancel the upcoming synod on young people. Right now, the bishops would have absolutely no credibility in addressing this topic," the archbishop said at an Aug. 30 conference Aug. 30 at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, according to a report by LifeSiteNews, a Canadian publication spearheaded by the national pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition.
With credibility a concern, Archbishop Chaput instead calls for the Pope to lead a meeting that addresses bishops and their lifestyles.
"I have called on him (Pope Francis), in its place, to begin making plans for a synod on the life of bishops," the archbishop said.
Earlier this month, a grand jury report revealed that over 1,000 children were molested throughout Pennsylvania by 301 priests.
In light of the recent sex abuse revelation in Pennsylvania, a Pennsylvania bishop Ronald Gainer expressed "profound remorse".
The grand jury report criticized Gainer for failing to advocate the defrocking of an abusive priest. The diocese defended Gainer, saying he took swift action against that priest and another abusive priest after becoming a bishop in 2014.
On Saturday, Pope Francis delivered a speech, in which he addressed the abuse scandal by saying he felt "pain and shame" over the abuse of children by Catholic priests.
