Bishops summoned to talks on sex abuse

Pope Francis is summoning leading bishops from around the world for a February summit to discuss how to prevent sexual abuse by priests.

The summit involving the presidents of every bishops conference was announced a day before Francis meets US church leaders hit by fresh accusations over the cover-up of sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

The 21-24 February meeting at the Vatican is believed to be the first of its kind and signals a realisation at the highest levels of the church that clergy sex abuse is a global problem.

Earlier this year, Francis faced what was then the worst crisis of his papacy when he repeatedly discredited victims of a notorious Chilean predator priest.

More recently, Francis’s papacy has been jolted by accusations from a retired Vatican ambassador that he rehabilitated a top American cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI for having molested and harassed adult seminarians.