Pope Calls For Renewal In U.S. Church After Sex Scandals

VATICAN CITY, Sept 11 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II said on Saturday that the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, which has been rocked by a series of sex scandals, must work towards renewal.
Addressing US bishops at the Vatican, the pope said that many of them had been concerned about a crisis of confidence in the church's leadership provoked by the scandals.
"I am convinced that today, as at every critical moment in her history, the Church will find the resources for an authentic self-renewal," he told bishops from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
"In the present circumstances of the Church in America, this will entail a spiritual discernment and critique of certain styles of governance which ... can run the risk of distancing the pastor from the members of his flock," the pontiff said, according to the text of his speech.