Catholic Church Haunted by Decades of Abuse.
ALLEN: The demands are growing for an independent investigation of a cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in the United States. The attorney general of Pennsylvania says he doesn't know if Pope Francis knew about it but that the Vatican certainly did.</s>HOWELL: His investigation found hundreds of priests abused at least 1,000 children over decades. CNN's Rosa Flores reports survivors of sexual abuse have taken their demands to the Vatican embassy in Washington.</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Survivors from three global organizations came here to the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C. holding pictures of themselves as children to show the age at which they were abused by clergy. Now, they came here asking for transparency and accountability and asking the United States Department of Justice to get involved. Now, all of this comes on the heels of the Pennsylvania grand jury report and also the release of a letter by a former nuncio, Carlo Maria Vigano. In that letter, he implicates Pope Francis, and that's why these survivors were here at the embassy, because the files to prove what Vigano says in that letter are somewhere between this nuncio and the Vatican.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all want to find out what's going on. We're not going to be able to find out what's going on unless he releases McCarrick's file. He can do that. He's the pope. It's his embassy if it's in there, and he needs to release it because we've got to clear this up but fast.</s>FLORES: This is an issue that is dividing bishops across the United States. On one side, you have a bishop in New Jersey saying that the allegations in this letter are innuendo, and yet there's a bishop in California defending the allegations. And meanwhile, back here in Washington, the cardinal at the center of this storm is saying that he does not plan to resign, that he plans to stay in his post. Now, these survivors that were here, where they're calling for the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl. They're not asking for the pope to resign. They're asking the pope to act. Rosa Flores, CNN, Washington.</s>HOWELL: In the meantime, Australia, the Catholic Church has refused to require that priests report child abuse when they learn about it in the confessional.</s>ALLEN: They're refusing that. The country's top Catholic body says it accepts recommendations of a government investigation, but the seal of the confession is not negotiable.</s>HOWELL: Let's go live now to Brisbane. Brendan Smith is a reporter with Sky News Australia and joins us now live. A pleasure to have you. Tell us more about this. What has been the reaction so far to the Catholic Church saying essentially we can abide by the 98 percent of this report, but the other 2 percent when it comes to protecting children, well, that's a no-go.</s>BRENDAN SMITH, REPORTER, SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA: that's right, George. Well, the church says that lifting the seal of confession wouldn't be appropriate. And they say it would actually discourage victims and perpetrators from confessing to abuse. Now while saying this, the church did say that it has the utmost respect for the law and doesn't believe it is above the law. But of course after this was released in the media today, it caused absolute controversy here in Australia. Social media really is blowing up. We have thousands of people commenting on our threads here at Sky News. People saying that it's not a disgrace to the church, why lift to the deal of confession. And one person even likened the Catholic Church to a criminal cartel.</s>HOWELL: Suggestion has been made that breaking the seal would somehow make children less safe. Can you explain that suggestion?</s>SMITH: It will really just be a test right now of the church when they really do implement these changes. There have been a number of recommendations made throughout this royal commission. It did recommend that all religious leaders or ministers who have been convicted of a sexual offense should be removed from the church. They also took on the recommendation that there should be a national office for child safety and also celibacy should be voluntary. Ultimately, it's really up to Pope Francis and the Vatican to implement the majority of these recommendations. So only time will tell, George, once they do recommend these and put them into practice.</s>HOWELL: And, look, this is all coming off of a very busy weekend in Ireland with the pope for sure, where scandal, the scandal of predator priests was thick in the air. Does this news from your nation does it put more pressure on the Catholic Church? Is there a sense that that's happening from this?</s>SMITH: It will undoubtedly put more pressure on the Catholic Church. It really brings the church back into the spotlight even more so. It has said that it will ensure there will be an abuse-free future. It has thanked all of the victims and survivors of this horrific child sex abuse. It does say that it will not happen again. They have been very insistent on that. They've been insistent that it will be far more transparent into the 4ture. And George, today is really a step forward for all of those victims in Australia and undoubtedly across the globe to really start that healing process. Thousands of people and agencies were involved in this landmark royal commission. So today is a good day for those victims but still plenty of work ahead.</s>HOWELL: Reporter Brendan Smith with Sky News Australia. Thank you so much for your time and the reporting.</s>ALLEN: Here in the U.S., an emotional send-off from the State of Arizona. Now Washington gets ready to remember the war hero. Two-time presidential candidate and longtime Republican Senator John McCain. Also thousands of people, saying good-bye to another warrior. A woman whose powerful voice demanded respect. Remembering Aretha Franklin. Stay with us.