VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago and the highest-ranking member of the Catholic Church in Chile, who has been caught up in the country’s sex abuse scandal. A Vatican statement on Saturday said the pope had named Bishop Celestino Aós Braco of the Chilean city of Copiapó, as “apostolic administrator” to run the Santiago archdiocese until a new archbishop is named to succeed Ezzati. In October, he exercised his right to silence after being summoned for questioning by a state prosecutor over the allegations. The decision to accept Ezzati’s resignation comes at time of growing criticism over the Church’s response to a decades-long sexual abuse crisis that has gravely damaged its standing around the globe. Victims of sexual abuse by clergymen say a top-level conference at the Vatican last month failed to come up with concrete measures to tackle the issue.

Source: Pakistan Today March 23, 2019 15:37 UTC