WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- Pope Francis praised approximately 300 U.S. bishops gathered at St. Matthew Cathedral for their response to the clergy sex abuse crisis.
During a prayer service, Francis lauded them for what he called their "generous commitment to bring healing to victims." He praised them for having courage and acting, as he saw it, "without fear of self-criticism."
The clergy sex abuse scandal erupted in the U.S. in 2002 and turned into the biggest crisis in the history of the American church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops pledged to oust any guilty clergy from church work and enact safeguards for children.
Victims say the bishops still haven't fully accounted for sheltering abusers, however, and three bishops resigned over their failures to protect children this year.
POPE EVENTS SO FAR:
At the beginning of the same service, Pope Francis issued special greetings to the Jewish community in the U.S. for Yom Kippur. Speaking in Italian, Francis said: "May the Lord bless them with peace and may they continue with a life of holiness."
The Pope Francis also praised the bishops for defending the rights of migrants, helping them to prosper and keeping their faith alive. He said: "Do not be afraid to welcome them ... I am certain that, as so often in the past, these people will enrich America and its church."
U.S. bishops have demanded a more welcoming policy toward immigrants in the country. Tens of thousands of people from Central America have surged across the border trying to escape violence. Many of them have been held in detention center. U.S. bishops and immigrant-rights advocates have said that the facilities are inhumane and ineffective.
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The Pontiff also didn't shy away from speaking out against abortion and other controversial topics.
He stated, "The innocent victim of abortion, children who die of hunger or from bombings, immigrants who drown in the search for a better tomorrow, the elderly or the sick who are considered a burden, the victims of terrorism, wars, violence and drug trafficking, the environment devastated by man's predatory relationship with nature - at stake in all of this is the gift of God, of which we are noble stewards but not masters."
Pope Francis is expected to talk about many of these topics in front of Congress on Thursday.
The cathedral is best known as the site where D.C. mourned the death of the first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. The parish dates to 1840 as the fourth Catholic church established in the District of Columbia.
This is the second time St. Matthew has hosted a pope. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass here in 1979. He was greeted by rock star sized crowds on Rhode Island Avenue. Monsignor Jameson was asked to coordinate the liturgies back then.
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