Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 25, 2019 / 16:06 pm
Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles responded to the Vatican's summit on abuse by stressing the need for a renewal of fidelity within the entire Catholic Church.
"This crisis in the Church is an issue of accountability and transparency. But most importantly, at its heart, this is a crisis of personal fidelity," he said in a Feb. 24 statement. "It is a crisis of not following Jesus Christ and not living the way he teaches us to live."
The archbishop, who serves as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, released his statement following the conclusion of a four-day Vatican summit that brought together heads of bishops' conferences from countries around the world to discuss sexual abuse and child protection.
The summit discussed responsibility, transparency, and accountability, with video testimonies from sex abuse victims, working group discussions, a penitential liturgy, and a closing Mass with final remarks from Pope Francis.