This would help prevent future sex abuse, says Ouellet the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

He also thinks bishops should also be chosen more carefully.

"We are facing a crisis in the life of the church... and also to a certain extent a rebellion," Ouellet says.

"This [the sex abuse scandal] is a very serious matter that has to be dealt with in a spiritual way, not only in a political way."

He also says direct attacks against Pope Francis over the scandals were "unjust."

Ouellet's comments come amid a string of revelations regarding allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up by clergy in several regions of the world.

The pope has met with numerous victims of abuse and many clergy since disclosure of abuse has been brought into the open.

Several senior members of the clergy have resigned as a result.

In late July, Francis accepted the resignation of retired Washington DC Archbishop Theodore McCarrick from the College of Cardinals and suspended him from the exercise of any public ministry, amid allegations of sexual abuse and coercion.

Francis has just met US bishops and cardinals to discuss the Vatican's response after McCarrick was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• GeoTV
• The BC Catholic
• Image: Catholic Herald