Madrid: In an all-out battle against abusive priests, Pope Francis said a process of healing had started within the Catholic Church, however, he said the guilty had not been punished.
The Argentine pontiff last week issued stringent child abuse legislation for Vatican City employees as part of the Church’s bid to address a wave of sex abuse allegations against priests. Speaking to the media, he said many were disappointed at the lack of concrete results of the landmark Vatican summit in February, but insisted progress was being made.
“If I hanged 100 priests in Saint Peter’s Square (people would have said) that’s good, something concrete,” he said in Spanish. “I would been seen to have taken action. But what interests me is not being seen to take action, but starting a healing process and that takes time.”
Abuse scandals have hit countries such as Australia to Chile, Germany and the US. Following this, the pope called for the summit, with a vision to educate bishops. The pope criticised the media and said journalists need to avoid salacious stories.