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Pope Francis’s public admission that priests have used nuns as “sexual slaves” – and may still be doing so – marks a new chapter in the abuse crisis rocking the Catholic church.
“It is the first time that the pope, but also the church as an institution, has publicly admitted this abuse is taking place, and that’s hugely important,” Lucetta Scaraffia, editor of the Vatican’s women’s magazine, told AFP on Wednesday.
The pontiff on Tuesday said Catholic priests and bishops had been sexually abusing nuns, and that his predecessor Benedict XVI had dissolved a religious order of women because of “sexual slavery on the part of priests and the founder”.
The Church has “suspended several clerics” and the Vatican has been “working (on the issue) for a long time,” he said.
The abuse was “still going on, because it’s not something that just goes away like that. On the contrary,” he added.
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Lloyd M’bwana
I’m a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR)’s Environmental Science graduate (Malawi) and UK’s ICM Journalism and Media studies scholar. Also University of Malawi (UNIMA) Library Science Scholar. I have been The Malawi Country Manager and duty editor for the Maravi Post since 2019. My duty editor’s job is to ensure that the news is covered properly, that it is delivered on time, and that it is created to the standards set out in the editorial guidelines of the Maravi Post.