Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's Catholic bishops have apologized to victims of child sex abuse by priests and announced steps aimed at preventing such abuse from happening again.
The bishops were reacting to recently revealed cases of child abuse by priests, including allegations against two Poles who served in the Dominican Republic, one of whom was a Vatican envoy.
After a two-day meeting of Poland's bishops, Archbishop Wojciech Polak told reporters Wednesday that they "apologize for the priests who have harmed children" and said that the church has "no tolerance for pedophilia."
He said documents adopted by the bishops call for psychological assistance to the victims and better screening and training of would-be priests to make the church a safe place for children.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
