14 PRIESTS LINKED TO CHILE SEX ABUSE STRIPPED OF DUTIES

SANTIAGO: Fourteen priests involved in a sex abuse scandal in Chile were defrocked on Tuesday ( Wednesday in Manila). “Fourteen priests no longer are allowed to carry out their duties . . . These priests have taken part in actions that may be civilian crimes as well as within the church,” the bishop’s office in the city of Rancagua said. Nicknamed “the Family,” the group of priestly offenders committed sex abuses with young people including minors. A priest said in that report aired last week that the group formed a sex abuse ring a decade ago, and engaged in sex acts with no regard for whether were minors or of age. Just Friday, 34 Chilean bishops announced their resignation over the child sex abuse scandal. The striking announcement came after the pontiff summoned the bishops over the scandal. Pope Francis promised “changes” to the Chilean church to “restore justice” in a short declaration to the bishops, which was made public. But in a confidential 10-page document leaked on Friday by Chilean TV channel T13, the Argentine pope goes much further in his indictment of the Chilean Church. The letter evokes “crimes” and “painful and shameful sexual abuse of minors, abuses of power and conscience by ministers of the Church.” It qualifies the removal of certain prelates from their roles as necessary but “insufficient,” calling for “the roots” that allowed such abuse within an “elitist and authoritarian” Chilean Church to be examined.