WORLD NEWS APRIL 2, 2019 / 5:35 AM / A DAY AGO

Pope: Church should admit history of abuse of women, male domination

Philip Pullella
4 MIN READ

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Tuesday the Catholic Church had to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women and children and repair its reputation among young people or risk becoming “a museum”.

But, in a major document in which he mentioned an array of scandals and again admitted significant failings by clergy, he also said the Church “could not agree with everything some feminist groups propose,” a clear reference to the Church’s ban on a female priesthood.

The pope is grappling with criticism over the Church’s response to a decades-long clerical sexual abuse crisis that has gravely damaged its standing around the globe and seen it pay out billions of dollars in compensation.

Francis made his comment in a 50-page “Apostolic Exhortation” about a month-long meeting of bishops in October on the role of young people in the 1.3 billion-member Church.

Francis, 82, urged young people not to be disillusioned by the sexual abuse scandal, but to work with the overwhelming majority of priests and other clergy faithful to their vocation.

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Pope Francis says Catholic Church should support women’s rights

By Chico Harlan April 2

ROME — In a major new document addressed to “all Christian young people,” Pope Francis calls for a church with “open doors” that can acknowledge past ills and be attentive to women seeking “greater justice and equality.”

The 33,000-word letter released Tuesday by the Vatican shows the pontiff’s hallmark advocacy for a version of Catholic teaching that is willing to evolve with the times. But the document does little to advocate for concrete steps that would improve women’s roles in the church, nor does it break ground on two other issues critical to young people — the church’s handling of sexual abuse and its teaching on homosexuality.

Without mentioning criticism from traditionalists who say the pope has loosened the church’s firm moral teachings, Francis wrote that a church always on the defensive stops listening to others, “leaves no room for questions” and “turns into a museum.”

“How, then, will she be able to respond to the dreams of young people?” Francis wrote in the apostolic exhortation, titled “Christ Is Alive.”

The document comes at a time when young people across the West are abandoning organized religion, including the scandal-hit Catholic Church. Bishops gathered at the Vatican in October to discuss this, and the pontiff’s document was a follow-up to that meeting. The Vatican held a separate meeting in February to address the sexual abuse of minors by clergy members, and although the problem has thrown the Catholic Church into crisis, it was not a primary focus of Francis’s latest document.

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