<p>Pope Francis told US bishops today to work to ensure the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church never happens again.<br /><br />"I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you," he said, at a prayer service with the bishops in Washington on the first full day of a US visit.<br /><br />"And I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims -- in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed -- and to work to ensure such crimes will never be repeated," he said.</p>.<p>The pope disappointed many American followers by deciding not to meet with the victim's of sex abuse by priests, but he was not able to avoid the issue altogether.<br /><br />Some 6,400 Catholic clergy have been accused of abusing minors in the United States between 1950 and 1980, and campaigners fears that the number should be higher.<br />Experts speaking at the Vatican said in 2012 the number of abused American minors is probably close to 100,000.</p>.<p>Besides the abuse itself, bishops and the Vatican have been accused of protecting suspected abusers and giving alleged victims the cold shoulder.</p>.<p>In June, Francis sacked two US bishops accused of looking the other way: the archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, John Clayton Nienstedt, and his aide Lee Anthony Piche.<br /><br />And earlier this month the Vatican replaced Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, who resigns in April after failing to report a priest accused of pedophilia.<br /><br />The pedophilia scandal has had serious financial implications for the church in America.<br />Since the first revelations in the 2000s, the church has spent USD 3 billion on legal costs and rehabilitation for offenders, according to watchdog Bishop Accountability. </p>
<p>Pope Francis told US bishops today to work to ensure the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church never happens again.<br /><br />"I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you," he said, at a prayer service with the bishops in Washington on the first full day of a US visit.<br /><br />"And I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims -- in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed -- and to work to ensure such crimes will never be repeated," he said.</p>.<p>The pope disappointed many American followers by deciding not to meet with the victim's of sex abuse by priests, but he was not able to avoid the issue altogether.<br /><br />Some 6,400 Catholic clergy have been accused of abusing minors in the United States between 1950 and 1980, and campaigners fears that the number should be higher.<br />Experts speaking at the Vatican said in 2012 the number of abused American minors is probably close to 100,000.</p>.<p>Besides the abuse itself, bishops and the Vatican have been accused of protecting suspected abusers and giving alleged victims the cold shoulder.</p>.<p>In June, Francis sacked two US bishops accused of looking the other way: the archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, John Clayton Nienstedt, and his aide Lee Anthony Piche.<br /><br />And earlier this month the Vatican replaced Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, who resigns in April after failing to report a priest accused of pedophilia.<br /><br />The pedophilia scandal has had serious financial implications for the church in America.<br />Since the first revelations in the 2000s, the church has spent USD 3 billion on legal costs and rehabilitation for offenders, according to watchdog Bishop Accountability. </p>