now the latest out of Rome where the
four-day Vatican summit on clergy abuse
has ended with no concrete action taken
by church leaders from around the world
instead the bishops got proposals from
Pope Francis they'll take back for
consideration in each of their countries
Channel 2 anchor bill by ASI has been in
Rome covering the summit he joins us
live with more bill yes Jonathan and
seon good morning from a bitterly cold
Rome here just after midnight on a
Monday morning although this summit
produced no concrete Universal
directives or laws aimed at clergy abuse
American bishops led by Cardinal DiNardo
now have the green light to make bishops
accountable for abuse and/or cover-up
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this summit was brought to a close with
a mass celebrated by the Pope and the
church leaders he called to this summit
on clergy abuse afterwards he spoke of
child abuse in a universal context
citing data that show those who
perpetrate abuse are primarily parents
relatives coaches and teachers
he called on world leaders to focus on
ways to end the abuse of minors
everywhere as the Catholic priests and
bishops he said the church will never
seek to hush up afterwards at his weekly
public address in st. Peter's Square
Pope Francis told the thousands
assembled including survivors of clergy
abuse that he and his bishops meeting
here acknowledge responsibility and ask
God and the victims for forgiveness all
the activities and places of the church
to always be places fully safe for
minors we want all possible measures to
be taken so that such crimes are not
repeated
the summit ended we again spoke
one-on-one with Houston's Cardinal
DiNardo who is leader of Bishops in
America he was asked by the Vatican to
delay measures to make American bishops
accountable but now feels he can move
forward do you feel you have a green
light now I think we do now I could be
overly optimistic here but if you listen
to all the talks bill I I didn't hear a
talk that didn't say something about lay
involvement yes
lay participation accountability by
having some form of a code of conduct
and I fear I think the bishops the
United States feel affirmed on that
level that what we were working on is
what they facto happened here and so we
can move ahead as soon as I get back
victims and survivors marched on the
Vatican demanding this summit adopt a
zero-tolerance policy on clergy abuse
the American church has already done so
but the Pope has not universally he
could conceivably in some issues do it
in fact somebody had asked me could he
not make zero tolerance Universal yes
and if to me I said it's fine by me I
mean but we've had that as a law in the
United States for its 1718 years the
Cardinal leaves the Vatican Monday
returning to Houston carrying with him a
message of reassurance for the 1.7
million Catholics he Shepherds in the
Archdiocese of Galveston Houston now
they excuse me the American bishops meet
in Baltimore this coming June Cardinal
daughter told me that he really believes
that Catholics will be reassured with
the outcome of that meeting reassured
that they can once again trust their
children with priests and bishops Siana
and Jonathan so bill when it comes to
priests who are known to have committed
sexual abuse crimes because they see
possible jail time or will they continue
to live free
no they will see jail time as a matter
of fact one of our viewers lacy Tom Cech
emailed me that very same question see
on and what I told her in returning
email is that now the first thing will
happen is the church will report all
accusations to civil authorities if that
priest or bishop is found guilty the
church will then defrock that priest or
bishop
Siana Johnathan's good information to
know thanks a lot for that bill now
clergy abuse survivors have of course
been very vocal during the summit
tonight at 10:00 bill finds out what
those survivors think about the Pope's
message we have more coverage of the
summit at the Vatican online including
Bill's blog of the developments in Rome
just go to click to you snuck home slash
Catholic Church