Vatican City: All 34 Chilean bishops who attended a crisis meeting this week with Pope Francis about the cover-up of sexual abuse in their country have offered to resign, the bishops said in a statement released on May 18.

It was not immediately clear if the pope would accept all or any of the resignations.

 “We have put our positions in the hands of the Holy Father and will leave it to him to decide freely for each of us,” the bishops said in their statement, in which they also apologized to Chile, the victims of abuse and the pope for the scandal.

The scandal has devastated the credibility of the Church in the once staunchly Catholic country. It has also hurt the pope’s own image because this year he strongly defended a bishop accused in the alleged cover-up before reversing his position.

The scandal has devastated the credibility of the Church in the once staunchly Catholic country. It has also hurt the pope’s own image because this year he strongly defended a bishop accused in the alleged cover-up before reversing his position.

 

source: Reuters