GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - When Bishop David Walkowiak of the Diocese of Grand Rapids heard about the problems with the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania he first wanted to learn more.
"I read about 180 pages of that 900 page report and I couldn't read anymore," says Walkowiak.
The report details the sexual abuse of more than a thousand victims.
"What I saw time and time again was that priests had abused children and if somebody had done the right thing, if somebody had reacted responsibly, of course this is all 20/20 now, but even so in any walk of life, if you have adults and children and teens, people are tempted to sin," says Walkowiak.
Now some are calling for Pope Francis to resign.
"I have great confidence in Pope Francis. He is our duly elected successor of Saint Peter. He has my support and whether he resigns or not would certainly be up to him. We know that Pope Benedict resigned because he did not feel up to the task anymore but no I would not be calling for the Pope's resignation no," says Walkowiak.
But the Bishop does want to see action from the Vatican and he supports other Bishops who are now calling for an outside investigation.
"I have to admit that yes, I am saddened. I am ashamed by the fact that it seems like we had been making some strides and now this gaping hole has been exposed and we see now we need to go back to the drawing board," says Walkowiak.
And speaking of the victims the Bishop will be holding a special service of reparation. That is scheduled to take place at Cathedral of Saint Andrew on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.