Pope Francis referred to Abusive Clergy as 'Tools of Satan'

Pope Francis, while speaking at a recent summit, referred to abusive clergy as 'Tools of Satan'

Photo Credit: ABC News

While addressing the participants on the final day of a historic summit on clergy sexual abuse, Pope Francis referred to priests and other Catholics found of abusing children “tools of Satan”. Still, no concrete steps to tackle the church’s recent and widely spread moral abuse crisis. 

"The brutality of this worldwide phenomenon becomes all the more grave and scandalous in the church, for it is utterly incompatible with (its) moral authority and ethical credibility," the Pope said in a speech in Vatican City on Sunday. 

"Consecrated persons," he continued, "chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, let themselves be dominated by their human frailty or sickness and thus become tools of Satan." 

The speech was delivered in the Apostolic Palace at the end of Mass at Sala Regia. It came at the end of an unparalleled gathering of 190 Catholic leaders that included 114 bishops from around the world, to address the clergy sexual abuse scandal that spanned across several continents. 

According to his speech on Sunday, Francis framed the church's abuse crisis within the wider context of society, even going as further as saying that pagans, in history, had "sacrificed children" in rituals. 

The Pope went further by stating: "We are thus facing a universal problem, tragically present almost everywhere and affecting everyone. Yet we need to be clear, that while gravely affecting our societies as a whole, this evil is in no way less monstrous when it takes place within the church." 

On concluding note, the Pope made an appeal for an "all-out battle" against child abuse.

Source: Link