VATICAN CITY (AP) — The founder and all-female editorial board of the Vatican's women's magazine have quit after coming under what they say was a Vatican campaign to discredit them and put them "under the direct control of men" that increased after they denounced the sexual abuse of nuns by clergy.

The editorial committee of "Women Church World," a monthly glossy published alongside the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, made the announcement in the planned April 1 editorial and in an open letter to Pope Francis that was provided Tuesday to The Associated Press.

In the editorial, which went to the printer last week but hasn't been published, magazine founder Lucetta Scaraffia wrote: "We are throwing in the towel because we feel surrounded by a climate of distrust and progressive de-legitimization."