Vatican

Pope Francis is taking additional steps to crack down on corruption at the Vatican by decreeing that all bishops and cardinals be tried if they are suspected of criminal behavior. This marks the second time in two days that the pope has worked to hold top church officials accountable for their actions.

The report on the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last year, states that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were aware of the accusations of sexual misconduct.

A 28-year-old priest is charged with sexually abusing an altar boy over a five-year period in a Vatican City youth seminary. Another priest, the former rector, is charged with covering up the abuse.

Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., is among 13 church leaders who will be elevated to cardinal at a ceremony at the Vatican next month.

Even before the synod began, traditionalists were angered by the suggestion that, to offset a shortage of priests in the Amazon, married men might be ordained to serve in remote communities.

The papal decree also sets up new procedures to hold more-senior church authorities such as bishops accountable for committing abuse or for covering up the crimes of others.

Applicable only to Vatican personnel and diplomats around the world, it is the first unified policy for the protection of children and vulnerable adults. But critics say it doesn't go far enough.

Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found. Together they account for more than half of the nation’s 187 dioceses.

The Catholic Church has been roiled by revelations about clergy abuse in dioceses across the country in 2018. It began with a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August that detailed decades of abuse.

The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, will meet in Rome with Pope Francis and other church leaders to discuss further investigations into abuse.