Europe

Home page

Europe

Pope calls cardinals to discuss abuse

09 November 2010 02:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pope Benedict XVI has arranged a meeting with his cardinals in Rome on November 19 to discuss the sexual abuse cases by clergymen, the Vatican says in a statement, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The meeting, which is set to bring together over 200 cardinals, comes on the eve of the recognition of 24 new cardinals and a procedure discussion for accepting the Anglicans’ conversion into the Church.

The meeting will be led by William Joseph Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, AFP reported.

Levada, a US cardinal who was formerly the archbishop of San Francisco, has been criticized by victims of sex abuse by priests for covering up the church’s crimes.

Some have urged the Pope to step down after allegations surfaced that he had covered up some cases of abuse.

The Catholic Church all around Europe and in the United States has been hit by numerous sex abuse scandals over the past twelve months.

Only this year, at least 300 people accused a number of German Catholic priests of sexual or physical abuse.

The Catholic Church covered up the incidents by simply reappointing the pedophile priests elsewhere instead of punishing them.