Church asks forgiveness

last updated 8 January 2015

Boston

The Catholic archbishop of Boston and more than 20 priests prostrated themselves before the altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross last week, asking forgiveness for their part in the clergy sex-abuse scandal. Since 2002, the Boston Archdiocese has paid out more than $100 million to settle hundreds of sex-abuse claims, many charging the archdiocese with ignoring or covering up the scandal for decades. Addressing churchgoers during the first of nine days of public atonement, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley called the abuse “wounds on the body of Christ.”