More than 30 bishops from Chile's Roman Catholic Church have said they will meet next week with Pope Francis in a bid to make amends over damage caused by the clerical sex abuse scandal that has long dominated the Chilean Catholic Church.
Chile's Episcopal Conference said in a statement yesterday that it felt the same 'pain and embarrassment' that Pope Francis expressed over the scandal last month.
The pope met in April with victims of Fernando Karadima, a former Chilean priest accused of paedophilia. Earlier that month the pope said he had made 'serious mistakes' in his handling of the scandal, and sought forgiveness from all those hurt in the fallout.
'Pope Francis' embrace [of these victims] serves as an example for the Church as it confronts accusations of abuse of conscience, sexual abuse and any other abuse of power that may have occurred in our communities,' the conference said.
The bishops will travel to Rome from May 14-17 for the rare meeting, of a kind usually only called in times of ecclesial crisis. However it's reported that Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, an unofficial adviser to Pope Francis who has also been embroiled in the scandal, will not be present at the meeting with the pope due to personal reasons, according to Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
Errazuriz, a retired archbishop of Santiago, has been accused by victims of Karadima of covering up abuse and attempting to discredit victims. Chile's Catholic Church did not immediately respond to a request comment over Errazuriz's absence.
Chile's abuse scandal has dominated not just the national church but the office of Pope Francis; he was previously heavily criticised for his vocal support of Bishop Juan Barros, another cleric accused of covering up abuse by Karadima, Barros' former mentor.
However, he later appointed one of the Vatican's most trusted sexual abuse investigators, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, to visit the South American country and meet with abuse victims and clergy there.
The pope's landmark April letter of apology came after reading Scicluna's 2,300-page report on the crisis, which included the testimony of 64 individuals and that he said caused him 'pain and shame' to read.
The Chilean Catholic Church has called for a 'drastic solution' to the scandal, and last month its head, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, said that Barros should resign.
Additional reporting by Reuters
