In a letter on April 11 to the bishops of Chile, Pope Francis asked forgiveness for his “serious errors of assessment and perception.” His apologies were directed to the victims of Fr. Fernando Karadima, whose abuse of at least three men when they were children was witnessed and covered up by Chilean Bishop Juan Barros. Until recently, Pope Francis had maintained that Bishop Barros was actually the victim of “slander.” In 2011, the then 80-year-old Fr. Karadina was found guilty by a Vatican tribunal, and sentenced to a life of “prayer and penance.”
In times past, a personal apology from the pope would have been close to unthinkable.
https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-apology-for-abuse-in-chile-would-once-have-been-unthinkable-94958
https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-apology-for-abuse-in-chile-would-once-have-been-unthinkable-94958