WHATEVER CRISIS or difficulty he is facing, Pope Francis’ strategy is always to allow time for careful discernment rather than to snatch at a quick-fix solution.

And this is how he is tackling the sexual abuse crisis in Chile, whose country’s bishops came to Rome this week for three days of meetings with Francis. A face-saving sacking of a bishop or two, or the issuing of an emergency statement is not good enough for this Pope. He is determined to find solutions from within the confusion of the tribulations, rather than by fleeing from them.

Summits of bishops to discuss abuse are not without precedent.