Members of the ECA (Ending of Clergy Abuse) organization and survivors of clergy sex abuse pose for photographers outside St. Peter's Square, at he Vatican, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Organizers of Pope Francis' summit on preventing clergy sex abuse will meet this week with a dozen survivor-activists who have come to Rome to protest the Catholic Church's response to date and demand an end to decades of cover-up by church leaders. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Vincent Doyle, of advocacy group Coping International, poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The lead organizer of the Vatican's sex abuse summit Archbishop Charles Scicluna met with Doyle, the child of a priest and campaigner seeking to draw attention to another, related issue the Vatican has long sought to keep quiet: the plight of children of priests. (AP Photo/Nicole Winfield) Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz talks to journalists at the end of a meeting with organizers of a summit on preventing sexual abuse, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) From left, sex abuse survivors Pedro Salinas, Francoise Devoiz, Pietro Zanardi and Peter Isley leave at the end of their meeting with organizers of the summit on preventing sexual abuse at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, who was asked by the Vatican to invite survivors to the meeting, told reporters Wednesday that Francis would not be attending, as had been rumored. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Sex abuse survivors and members of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) hold their organization banner as they talk to journalists, as some of their representatives are meeting with organizers of the summit on preventing sexual abuse at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, who was asked by the Vatican to invite survivors to the meeting, told reporters Wednesday that Francis would not be attending, as had been rumored. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has opened a high-level summit of church leaders on preventing clergy sex abuse, hoping to impress on bishops from around the world that the problem is global and requires a global response.
The four-day meeting at the Vatican began early Thursday with prayers and was to feature speeches, tutorials and workshops on protecting children, preventing abuse and stopping cover-ups.
More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the U.S., bishops and other Catholic superiors in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia either deny that clergy sex abuse exists or downplay the problem.
Francis has made the same mistakes. He finally did an about-face after botching a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year. (AP)
