Pontiff decries abuse

VATICAN CITY: The prevention of child abuse is an “urgent challenge” for the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis said yesterday, four days before the start of a Vatican summit on the issue.

“I urge you to pray for this event, which I wanted (to hold) as a strong act of pastoral responsibility in respect to an urgent challenge of our times,” Francis said.

The Catholic Church is in the throes of a major crisis over its longrunning failure to punish predator priests in Chile, the US, Australia and Germany.