The meeting, a major congress held every three years,Â-will be closed byÂ-Pope FrancisÂ-during the first papal visit in almost 40 years to Ireland where a series of abuse scandals has also rocked the church's standing in the once staunchly Catholic country. The withdrawal from the Dublin event followed a bombshell grand jury report this week that detailed widespread abuse by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania and a systematic cover-up campaign by their bishopsÂ-over a 70-year period. Wuerl, who was Bishop for theÂ-Diocese of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania from 1988 to 2006,Â-has not himself been accused of any wrongdoing against children.



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