The Catholic Church has been too slow coming to terms with the sexual abuse of women - particularly women religious - by priests, the editor of the Vatican newspaper's women's magazine has said.
Although scandalous, the delay in recognising the problem is not surprising for an "ecclesiastical institution with centuries of culture focused on women as dangerous and temptresses," wrote Lucetta Scaraffia, editor of the Woman-Church-World supplement in L'Osservatore Romano.
While the Catholic Church has made progress in recognising the sexual abuse of children as a crime, Scaraffia wrote, when dealing with the abuse of women "the subject is more complex" and goes to the heart of Pope Francis's analysis of the abuse crisis as having much to do with an abuse of power.
