U.S. nuns urge changes to church structure to address abuse issue

Vatican City — The largest association of religious sisters in the United States called Thursday for an overhaul of the male-led leadership structure of the Catholic Church, after Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the problem of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious also appealed in a statement for reporting guidelines to be established so abused nuns “are met with compassion and are offered safety.”

The conference’s statement followed Francis’ acknowledgment this week that clergy abuse of nuns was a problem. The pope said the Vatican was working on it but that more needs to be done.

His comments, given in response to a reporter’s question during an in-flight news conference, were the first public acknowledgment by a pope of a long-simmering scandal that is erupting at the same time that the Catholic hierarchy is under siege for its decadeslong cover-up of the sexual abuse of minors.

Reporting by The Associated Press and other news media, as well as the reckoning demanded by the #MeToo movement, has brought the issue of sexual violence against nuns to the fore, such that #Nunstoo has been trending in recent days.

The LCWR, which represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the U.S., said it was grateful Francis had “shed light on a reality that has been largely hidden from the public and we believe his honesty is an important and significant step forward.”

The group acknowledged some religious congregations had been part of the problem and didn’t support sisters in coming forward to report abuse in the past.

“We regret that when we did know of instances of abuse, we did not speak out more forcefully for an end to the culture of secrecy and cover-ups within the Catholic Church that have discouraged victims from coming forward,” said the association, based in Silver Spring, Md.