VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis removed two Chilean bishops accused of sexual abuse from the priesthood.
 
In a statement released on October 12, the Vatican said 84-year-old Francisco José Cox, the former archbishop of La Serena, and 53-year-old Marco Antonio Ordenes, the former bishop of Iquique, were dismissed from the clerical state. 
 
“The decision adopted by the pope on Thursday, 11 October 2018, is not subject to appeal,” the Vatican said.
 

VATICAN (CNS): In a letter to Catholics in Chile, Pope Francis expressed shame for the Church’s failure to listen and defend survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy.
 
Released by the Chilean bishops’ conference on May 31, the letter said that the time of “revision and purification” in the Church was possible through the efforts of abuse survivors “who, against all hope or painted as discredited, did not tire of looking for the truth.”
 

VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis will meet from June 1 to 3 “five priests who were victims of abuses of power, of conscience and sexual abuse,” by Chilean Father Fernando Karadima or his followers, the Vatican said in a statement May 22.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS): “We want to announce that all bishops present in Rome, in writing, have placed our positions in the Holy Father’s hands so that he may freely decide regarding each one of us,” Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz of San Bernardo said on May 18 in a statement on behalf of Chile’s bishops.
 
The unprecedented decision was made on the final day of their May 15 to 17 meeting with Pope Francis to discuss the country’s clerical sexual abuse scandal.
 

SANTIAGO (CNS): James Hamilton, Jose Andres Murillo and Juan Carlos Cruz, victims of Father Fernando Karadima, released a statement April 11 saying they appreciated Pope Francis’ letter in which he apologized for underestimating the seriousness of the crisis in Chile and were “evaluating the possibilities” for meeting with him.