Catholic Church Publicly Admits Sexual Abuse By Priests

The Catholic Church on Monday admitted that priests and other members of the clergy had sexually abused minors.

The public admission of guilt is coming on the heels of pressures on the faith in Spain and elsewhere on the authorities of the Catholic Church to address the allegations.

“The church recognises abuse of several types candidly and is firmly determined to wipe it out,’’ said the president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Ricardo Blazquez, at a meeting of the bishops in Madrid.

“The various types of abuse by many bishops, priests, religious people and laypeople trigger suffering in the victims, including many young people, which can last a lifetime and no sorrow can appease,’’ said Blazquez, who is also the Archbishop of Valladolid.

Pope Francis has called for a summit on the prevention of sex abuse with national Catholic Church leaders from around the world in February.

The head of the Church has been under mounting pressure to deal with the problem decisively, after a string of scandals in Chile, Australia and the United States.

In Spain, there has been critique of how the Church had been handling the issue of abuse.

In October, the El Pais newspaper reported that abuse by Church employees had been systematically covered up in the predominately Catholic country.