CORRECTS THE CREATION DATE TO APRIL 17, 2015, NOT OCT. 20, 2010 - FILE - In this April 17, 2015, file photo, Pope Francis, left, talks with Papal Foundation Chairman Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., during a meeting with members of the Papal Foundation at the Vatican. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury accused Cardinal Wuerl of helping to protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh's bishop. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP),CORRECTS THE CREATION DATE TO APRIL 17, 2015, NOT OCT. 20, 2010 - FILE - In this April 17, 2015, file photo, Pope Francis, left, talks with Papal Foundation Chairman Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., during a meeting with members of the Papal Foundation at the Vatican. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury accused Cardinal Wuerl of helping to protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh's bishop. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has called the sex abuse described in a grand jury report in Pennsylvania “criminal and morally reprehensible.”
In a statement released late Thursday, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said “those acts were betrayals of trust that robbed survivors of their dignity and faith.”
He said that victims should know that Pope Francis is on their side.
