Pope defrocks two Chilean bishops for sex abuse of minors

Pope Francis has defrocked two Chilean bishops for the alleged sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said in a statement on Saturday after a meeting between the pontiff and the president of Chile.

The decision to expel former archbishop Francisco Jose Cox Huneeus and former bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez -- the latest heads to roll in a country hit hard by the cleric abuse scandal -- could not be appealed, it said.

Both were stripped of their priesthood "as a consequence of overt acts of abuse against minors".

Defrocking is considered the harshest penalty for priests within the Church and means the offender is forbidden from exercising any clerical duties at all, even in private.

Scores of new cases of priestly sexual abuse of minors have come to light in Chile, deepening a crisis in the Roman