Pope apologises for 'sacrilegious cult' of Church's sexual abuse

Pope Francis Francis delivers a speech in Isernia, southern Italy, on July 5, 2014, as part of a one day visit in the Molise region. Pope Francis, in his strongest words ever on the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clerics, told victims
Pope Francis Francis delivers a speech in Isernia, southern Italy, on July 5, 2014, as part of a one day visit in the Molise region. Pope Francis, in his strongest words ever on the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clerics, told victims on Monday that the abuse was "camouflaged with a complicity" and begged forgiveness. -- PHOTO: AFP

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his strongest words ever on the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clerics, told victims on Monday that the abuse was "camouflaged with a complicity" and begged forgiveness.

In the homily of a Mass with six victims of abuse, he said the Catholic Church must "must weep and make reparation" for what it did to victims and begged forgiveness for what he said had become "a sacrilegious cult" that profaned God.

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