Cardinal Cupich presented a framework for “clear procedures to hold bishops involved in misconduct and mishandling [of abuse cases] accountable.”

“No bishop may say to himself, ‘The problem of abuse in the church does not concern me because things are different in my part of the world,’” the archbishop of Bombay told bishops gathered in Rome.

Pope Francis prayed that the Holy Spirit would “sustain” summit participants and “help us to turn this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification.”

Cardinal Tagle urged church leaders not to shy away from acknowledging the pain of victims.

Frederic Martel boldly told reporters at a press conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome on Feb. 20 that “the great majority” of the more than 200 members of the College of Cardinals are leading double lives.

“We all know that canon law has to be changed so that it stops protecting the priesthood of ordained men over the lives of children," Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, told reporters.