But he was in fact NOT referring to HOW the Church faced the problem. That's your belief based on a bad translation.

You specifically reacted to the word "conscious". That's a word he did not use. Nor did he mention consciousness. What he said was that the Church didn't *face up to* the problem. He was describing -- accurately -- the failure of the Church to act. This isn't a quibble. Because of the very bad reporting in this story, people are commenting on things Francis did not say. He was being perfectly straightforward, but the translation comes out as obfuscating. I wouldn't expect this to change your opinion overall, but it should affect your understanding of what Francis said today about the Church's track record.