All 34 Chilean bishops who attended a crisis meeting this week with Pope Francis about the cover-up of sexual abuse in their country have offered to resign, it has emerged.
The bishops also apologised to Chile, the victims of abuse and the pope for the scandal as they released an extraordinary joint statement.
It was not immediately clear if the pope, who slammed had accepted their resignation.
Pope Francis on Thursday ended his emergency summit with Chile's bishops by thanking them for their 'full willingness' to do whatever it takes to recover from a sex abuse and cover-up scandal that has discredited the church