The following letter to the faithful from Bishop Jaime Soto was distributed at Masses in the Diocese of Sacramento August 18-19.

Dear Friends in Christ:

I am ashamed of the senseless harm and failures of priests and bishops recently revealed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report and the scandalous revelations about Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. The repulsive and evil horror of these sins wounds the whole Church. I apologize for what has transpired. I must atone by committing myself to further bolster our local efforts to serve God’s people in the Diocese of Sacramento with the reverence and dignity they deserve. Those who have been harmed and betrayed often suffer for years. They most deserve this care from the Church.

Pope Francis has responded to new reports of clerical sexual abuse and the ecclesial cover-up of abuse. In an impassioned letter addressed to the whole People of God Aug. 20, he calls on the Church to be close to victims in solidarity, and to join in acts of prayer and fasting in penance for such "atrocities".

This morning, in the wake of these recent reports of clergy abuse, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, published a statement. In it he said, “I apologize and humbly ask your forgiveness for what my brother bishops and I have done and failed to do. Whatever the details may turn out to be regarding Archbishop (Theodore) McCarrick or the many abuses in Pennsylvania (or anywhere else), we already know that one root cause is the failure of episcopal leadership.”