Is Pope Francis ignoring clergy sex abuse? Some are beginning to wonder

c. 2013 Religion News Service

(RNS) Pope Francis has spent his first nine months buoyed by a wave of good will and positive coverage generated by his disarming style and frank talk about the need to reform the Catholic Church. But the pontiff may be in for a rough patch as media attention begins to shift to an issue that has bedeviled Rome for more than a decade: the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The pope himself put the spotlight on the crisis this week when he told bishops visiting from the Netherlands — where a 2011 report found that more than 20,000 children may have been abused in past decades — to support victims “along their painful path of healing.”