Until now Pope Francis has stood firmly by Bishop Barros.

He just doesn’t get it when it comes to victims of abuse.

“I ask forgiveness,” the pope said on his flight from Lima to Rome. “It’s a hurt [caused] without wishing it.”

“Pope Francis’ statements...were a source of great pain for survivors of sexual abuse,” Cardinal O’Malley said in a statement released Jan. 20.

Many in Chile opposed Francis’ appointment of Msgr. Barros as bishop because he is known to have belonged to the inner circle of a priest accused of abuse.

Pope Francis dove head-first into Chile's sex abuse scandal on his first full day in Santiago.