VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis expressed “shame” for himself and the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday for the scale of child sexual abuse within the church in France and acknowledged failures in putting the needs of victims first.
The pope spoke during his regular audience at the Vatican about a report released Tuesday that estimated some 330,000 French children were abused by clergy and other church authority figures dating back to 1950.
He needs to do a lot more than express shame. He needs to take concrete action. However, I suspect the news will automatically deter others from joining the priesthood. It is no longer a creditable career move. The existing priests and nuns will have their every move scrutinized. One problem is that the church has been losing parishioners in the 'west' and is now moving to developing countries like Africa.
Oh dear.
Isn't it terrible that the Catholic Church has systematically hidden the fact that vast numbers if its clergy have repeatedly sexually abused children.
How embarrassing.
What a terrible shame the SHITHEADS in charge of Catholicism are such corrupt, obnoxious arseholes - the pope included.
"Shame" is the least possible thing to say. Disgusting shit.