Pope Francis speaks at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in Santiago on January 17, 2018.
Pope Francis denounced the use of violence in the struggle for indigenous rights Wednesday, celebrating mass in a restive region of Chile, before heading back to Santiago to meet with young faithfuls. /
Credit:VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty

All 34 of Chile’s Catholic bishops have submitted their written resignations to the Vatican in the latest fallout from a major child sex abuse scandal rocking the South American nation.

The unprecedented move puts the bishops’ fate in the hands of Pope Francis, who can either accept the resignations or reject them. The clerics announced their decision to resign en masse at a Vatican news conference on Friday.

“Thank you to the victims, for their perseverance and their bravery, despite the enormous personal spiritual, social, and family difficulties they’ve had to face so many times, amidst the incomprehension and the attacks from the ecclesial community itself,” the bishops wrote in their resignation letter.

The breadth and global magnitude of the Catholic Church’s ongoing child sex abuse […]