WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 21, 2019 / 3:32 AM / UPDATED 43 MINUTES AGO

Pope opens child sex abuse conference, promising 'concrete' remedies

Philip Pullella
3 MIN READ

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis promised that concrete actions against child sexual abuse by priests would result from a conference he opened on Thursday, countering scepticism from some survivors who said the meeting looked like a public relations exercise.

Francis convened Catholic leaders from around the world for the four-day meeting to address the scandal that has ravaged the Church’s credibility in the United States - where it has paid billions of dollars in settlements - Ireland, Chile, Australia, and elsewhere over the last three decades.

“Faced with the scourge of sexual abuse committed by men of the Church against minors, I wanted to reach out to you,” Francis told the assembled bishops and heads of religious orders, asking them to “listen to the cry of the little ones who are seeking justice.”

Victims expected “concrete and efficient measures” and not mere condemnations, he added.

After the pope spoke, Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines broke into tears as he read a keynote speech that acknowledged: “wounds have been inflicted by us, the bishops, on the victims”.

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