Pope Francis has underlined his commitment to stopping the sexual abuse of nuns by other members of the clergy.
In an interview on the papal plane following his historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula, the Pope admitted there has been sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops, including instances of sexual slavery, and vowed to do more to address the issue.
Noting that the Vatican had been “working” to address the issue “for some time”, he said more should be done to address the problem.
“It’s not that everyone does this, but there have been priests and bishops who have,” he was reported as saying.
Several Catholic organisations have previously raised the issue with reported instances of abuse of nuns reported in numerous countries around the world.
Pope Francis said some clergy had been suspended for mistreating nuns which had sometimes amounted to femicide.
He noted the action of his predecessor, Popr Benedict XVI, against a France-based religious order after some of its nuns were reduced to sexual slavery at the hands of the clergy or the order’s founder.
