The punishment for the once-powerful prelate, who had served as the archbishop of Washington, D.C., was announced five days before Francis is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-ups by church hierarchy that continues to reverberate. The decades-long scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis’ papacy.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 16, 2019 09:29 UTC