Pope cuts 2 cardinals named in abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has removed two cardinals from his informal cabinet after they were implicated in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse and cover-up scandal, shedding embarrassing advisers ahead of a high-stakes Vatican summit on abuse early next year.

The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis in October had written to Chilean Cardinal Javier Errazuriz and Australian Cardinal George Pell thanking them for their five years of service on the so-called Group of Nine, or C-9.

Francis also bid farewell to Congolese Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, who hasn’t been implicated in the scandal but at age 79 recently retired as archbishop of Kinshasa.

Errazuriz, 85, has been accused by Chilean abuse survivors of having covered up for predator priests while he was archbishop of Santiago, a charge he has denied. Pell, 77, took leave from his job as the Vatican’s economy minister to stand trial in his native Australia on historic charges of sex abuse, which he denies.

Their continued presence on the C-9 had been a source of scandal for Francis, given the explosion of the abuse and coverup crisis this year.

The Vatican made no mention of the accusations against Errazuriz and Pell in explaining their departures, and said for now they wouldn’t be replaced.

Francis appointed the C-9 in 2013 to help him reform the Vatican and reorganize its bureaucracy.

That work is wrapping up, with the finalizing of a new document outlining the work and mission of the various congregations that make up the universal government of the 1.2 billion-strong church.