From Catholic News Agency:
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO ROME (CNS) — To fight clerical sexual abuse, the Catholic Church must have clear laws and procedures, but it also must engage in “spiritual combat,” because it is obvious the devil is at work, Pope Francis said.
After the Vatican summit on abuse in February, the pope said, he read a newspaper article that said he had “washed his hands and blamed the devil” for the abuse crisis. Speaking to reporters March 31 on his way back to Rome from Morocco, the pope said stopping abuse requires a multi-pronged approach, including prayer and penance. Pope Francis said that is why he asked the U.S. bishops not to vote in November on a new code of conduct for bishops and new procedures for handling allegations raised against bishops. Instead, he asked the bishops to have a retreat and wait until after the February summit to decide how to move forward. Some things, like the abuse crisis and child pornography, he said, “cannot be understood without the mystery of evil.”