Nuns call for changes to church’s power structure

Nicole Winfield

The largest association of religious sisters in the United States has called 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’ acknowledgement this week that clergy abuse of nuns was a problem.

The Pope said the Vatican was working on it but that more needed to be done.

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

Reporting by the news media and the reckoning demanded by the #MeToo movement have 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 per cent of Catholic sisters in the US, 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”.