Pope Francis demotes two cardinals accused of being involved in child sex abuse scandals

POPE Francis 1 has demoted two cardinals amid allegations that they were involved in sex abuse scandals as part of the ongoing drive by the Catholic Church to clean up its image in the midst of numerous allegations of impropriety.

Unlike other churches and faiths, in the Catholic Church, clergymen are forbidden from getting married, which means priests struggle to suppress their sexual urges. This has resulted in all sorts of illicit liaisons and a lot of child abuse cases in which choir boys and girls have been taken advantage of by desperate clergymen.

Of late, the matter has become a huge international scandal and Pope Francis has pledged to clean up the church by taking action against anyone found to be involved in such abuse. This week, the pope demoted Cardinals George Pell of Australia and Francisco Javier Errazuriz of Chile after they were accused of being involved in sex abuse.

With the demotion, they have been removed from the pope’s inner circle and will no longer sit on the Council of Cardinals, set up as an international advisory body. Both demoted cardinals were absent from the last meeting of the group in September and a Vatican spokesman said the pope wrote to them both in October to thank them for their past service.

Cardinal Pell, who remains the Vatican treasurer, faces trial on sexual abuse charges in Australia, although he strenuously denies the accusations. Cardinal Errazuriz has also been accused of covering up alleged child abuse while serving as the Archbishop of Santiago and he too denies the accusations.