priests

The Roman Catholic Church’s one million members of clergy must report all suspicions of sexual abuse by church leaders at any and all levels, Pope Francis   ordered on Thursday in a landmark decree.

Each diocese – or district of church governance – must set up clear and accessible reporting systems by June 2020, the pope declared, in a bid to tackle the sexual abuses that have called the church’s moral authority into question and seriously damaged its reputation.

“We have said for years that priests should follow certain strict rules, so why should bishops and other members of the Church