Letter to the People of God
Pope Francis20 August 2018
A letter of Pope Francis to all Catholics on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and its concealment, written days after a report on abuse over some seventy years was made public.
Francis wrote the letter in August 2018. Its first section refers to a report made public “in recent days” that detailed the experience of at least a thousand survivors over about seventy years; the letter does not name it, and the figures match the report of the Pennsylvania grand jury (Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury). The pope acknowledges that the church did not act in time, and calls the whole church to prayer and fasting. The letter states an attitude and makes no law.
Cited in
- 6 January 2002, firm date