Pope defrocks two ex-bishops of Chile

Pope Francis has defrocked two Chilean former bishops for allegedly sexually abusing minors, the Vatican said yesterday after a meeting between the pontiff and Chile's president.

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 -- is not open to appeal.

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

The announcement came a day after the pope accepted the resignation of Washington DC archbishop Donald Wuerl, who has been blamed for not doing enough to deal with paedophile priests.

Saturday's defrocking was "an extremely unusual, if not unprecedented" move, wrote Ines San Martin, a Vatican expert working for specialist Catholic website Crux.

Defrocking is considered the Church's harshest penalty for priests, barring the offender from exercising any clerical duties at all, even in private.

A total of 167 bishops, priests and lay members of the church in Chile are now under investigation for sexual crimes committed since 1960.