Pope Francis apologized Monday for his recent comment asserting that victims of sexual abuse by priests must provide proof, but continued to stand by an influential Chilean bishop accused of covering up the actions of a notorious pedophile priest."There is not one single piece of proof against him,” Francis said of Bishop Juan Barros during a trip to Chile as part of his weeklong visit to Latin America. “It is all slander. Is that clear?""The day someone brings me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk," Francis added.After his initial comments to reporters outside a church last week in northern Chile triggered international outrage, Francis said his words were a “slap in the face” to victims of sexual violence.Barros, controversial since Pope Francis made him a bishop in 2015, is accused of being present when Father Fernando Karadima kissed and groped a boy.“I can’t condemn him because I don’t have evidence,” Francis said. “But I’m also convinced that he’s innocent.”Father Karadima was accused of assaulting numerous teenage boys in Chile. The Vatican found him guilty and sentenced the priest to a lifetime of “penance and prayer,” though he won’t face a criminal prosecution. The pope’s top adviser on the clergy’s sexual abuse scandals, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, criticized the pope’s words, saying they were a “source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse.”Francis has fielded criticism in the past for his appointment of Barros, the bishop in question, whose ordination ceremony was cut short by protests outside the church.
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