Pope asks to be forgiven for priest scandals

Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for scandals at the Vatican and in Rome, an apparent reference to two cases of priests and gay sex that were revealed this month during a major meeting of bishops.

“Today ... in the name of the Church, I ask you for forgiveness for the scandals that have occurred recently, either in Rome or in the Vatican,” Francis said in unprepared remarks during his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square. “I ask you for forgiveness,” he said before tens of thousands of people, who applauded. “It is inevitable that scandals happen, but ‘woe to that man by whom the offence cometh’!” he said, quoting a passage from the Bible.

The Pope then read his prepared address and did not elaborate, but there have been two scandals involving the Vatican, and the Church in Rome, in the past two weeks. On October 3, a Polish monsignor, Krzysztof Charamsa, who had been working in the Vatican’s doctrinal office since 2003, held a packed news conference and disclosed he was gay and living with another man.