ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2018) Pope Francis on Friday promised that the Catholic Church would never again cover up clerics who abuse minors, urging them to hand themselves in.
"Hand yourself in to civil justice and prepare for divine [justice]," Pope Francis said in his annual speech to the Vatican's Curia.
The Pope stressed that "the Church will spare no effort and do whatever necessary to ensure that anyone who has committed these crimes is brought to justice."
The Catholic Church has long been plagued with child sexual abuse scandal. In August, a massive cover-up of sexual abuse and rape of minors by Catholic priests was revealed, with a grand jury report showing that more than 1,000 children had been molested by at least 301 Roman Catholic priests in the US state of Pennsylvania since the 1940s.