Pope Francis will meet with three U.S. archbishops on Thursday, Sept. 13, as the church continues to grapple with fallout from sexual abuse scandals.

The concern of now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and the promises made by the majority of church leaders were not able to stop the evil of clerical sexual abuse, which has been the 9/11 of the Catholic Church, the retired pope's personal secretary said.

“If the church shows itself to be incapable of responding with all its heart...all our other activities of evangelization will feel it.”

A top official from the Vatican Secretariat of State acknowledged allegations made by a New York priest in 2000 concerning Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, according to a letter obtained by Catholic News Service.

The "remedies clause" in the state constitution prohibits a retroactive change to the civil and criminal statute of limitations, according to Scarnati.

The subpoenas seek documents relating to sexual abuse allegations, financial payments to possible victims or the findings from internal church investigations, according to The Associated Press.