Vatican City, Aug 20, 2018 / 04:55 am
Pope Francis called Monday for every member of the Catholic Church to pray and fast in penance for the evil of clerical sex abuse, and to be involved in needed change within the Church.
"The only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God," Francis wrote Aug. 20.
In a letter to the entire Church following widespread revelations of clerical sex abuse in the Church in the United States, the pope invited "the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting, following the Lord's command."
"This can awaken our conscience and arouse our solidarity and commitment to a culture of care that says 'never again' to every form of abuse," he said. "Every one of the baptized should feel involved in the ecclesial and social change that we so greatly need."