Pope Francis about Archbishop Scicluna: “Among the strongest against abuse”

During the traditional press conference on his flight back to Rome, following a two-day visit to Fatima, Pope Francis was asked about the clerical sexual abuse  cases.

Pope Francis described the way the process is handled in the Vatican, once the dossier against a priest is presented, including the newly-erected tribunal that hears the priest’s appeals when they are found guilty. This tribunal is headed by Malta’s Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, whom the Pontiff described as “among the strongest against abuse.”

Archbishop Scicluna was the chief prosecutor on sex abuse cases at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, and was known for having an aggressive approach to the issue.