Pope’s sex-pest priests fury

POPE Francis yesterday urged predator priests to turn themselves in and vowed he would bring “divine justice” to victims of sexual abuse.

In his strongest comments yet on the sexual abuse crisis sweeping the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said clergy should never “seek to hush up” any case.

He declared: “To those who abuse minors I would say this: convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.”

Pope Francis spoke before an extraordinary summit next February on the crisis engulfing the Church.

It will be attended by the heads of some 110 national Catholic bishops’ conferences and dozens of experts and leaders of religious orders in the

Pope Francis gives warning to priests Vatican. The Pope has previously used his Christmas address to denounce cases of corruption in the Curia, the Vatican’s civil service. This time, he concentrated on the global sexual abuse crisis. “Let it be clear that, faced with these abominations, the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whoever has committed such crimes. The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case,” he said.

When Pope Francis has made similar promises of zero tolerance in the past, victim groups have decried his words, saying the Church has to come up with a clear policy to make bishops themselves accountable for the mishandling of abuse cases.

The groups say next year’s meeting must do precisely this.