Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of two more Chilean bishops, bringing to seven the number who have stepped down since a sexual abuse scandal swept the nation's Roman Catholic Church.

A Vatican statement on Friday said the two were Bishop Carlos Eduardo Pellegrín Barrera of the diocese of San Bartolomé de Chillán and Bishop Cristián Enrique Contreras Molina of the diocese of San Felipe.

In both cases, Francis appointed other bishops as commissioners, known as Apostolic Administrators, to run the dioceses until further notice.

Francis accepted the resignations of five other bishops in June, a month after all of the country's bishops offered to step down en masse during an emergency meeting with the pope over allegations of a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Latin American country.

The Catholic Church in Chile has been in crisis over sexual abuse scandals. This week the pope decided to expel from the priesthood Rev Cristian Precht, a prominent human rights campaigner who had challenged former dictator Augusto Pinochet over his government's use of torture. He had been accused of sexual abuse as part of the investigation into allegations against members of the Marist Brothers religious community. Precht denies the allegations against him.

Additional reporting by Reuters.