Pope Francis dug deeper into the roots of Chile's sex abuse scandal by meeting Saturday with a group of priests who were trained in a cult-like Catholic community and suffered psychological and sexual abuse there. The Vatican said the Mass and subsequent weekend meetings would help Francis better understand life inside Karadima's El Bosque community, which catered to the rich and powerful of Santiago society during and after the Pinochet dictatorship. El Bosque generated some 30 priests and four bishops before Karadima was removed from ministry and a priestly society affiliated with El Bosque was closed. But the scandal has spread far beyond El Bosque and has implicated the Chilean hierarchy, which has sought to place the blame on the church's dramatic loss of moral authority on the Karadima scandal alone. The El Bosque scandal is similar to others that have recently roiled the Latin American church, including the Mexico-based Legion of Christ and the Peru-based Sodalitium.

Source: ABC News June 02, 2018 15:33 UTC