The Church’s strong anti-abuse protocols are enshrined in law says Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, but they are not being universally applied. “More broadly, the norms adopted by Rome indicate the right direction, but we currently have no mechanism to monitor their implementation.” Zollner, director of the Institute of Anthropology at Rome’s Gregorian University, believes the Read more
A Vatican report about Bishop Saunders has already been handed to Western Australia Police. The facts run counter to a scandalous allegation to the contrary, says a statement from the Catholic Church. Recent news reports allege the Church has refused to hand the Vatican report to the Police. The Conference has responded firmly, denying the Read more
Making reparation to clergy sex abuse survivors is critical, Pope Francis told the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Friday. “The sexual abuse of minors by clergy and its poor handling by Church leaders has been one of the greatest challenges for the Church in our time. “Now is the time to repair Read more
Portugal’s president is under fire for seeming to make light Catholic clergy sex abuse revelations. After finding members of the Portuguese Catholic Church had sexually abused over 400 children, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa indicated the number didn’t seem significant. “Having 400 cases doesn’t seem to me to be a lot, because in other countries Read more
A group of Canadian Inuit are in France this week to press the Macron government to extradite a retired Catholic priest. The priest is accused of sexual abuse. The allegations come from a time Fr Johannes Rivoire (93) was working for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Canada’s northern regions. The Inuit group’s trip Read more
The Catholic Church in New Zealand says it’s too soon to bring the police into the historic abuse in care findings Church investigations have uncovered. A more thorough investigation will have to be undertaken first in relation to the 1680 recorded instances of alleged abuse reported since 1950 – of which 592 alleged abusers were Read more
A day of reckoning for a once-powerful prince of the Roman Catholic Church had finally come. Frail and 91, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was arraigned last week on charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy at Wellesley College in the 1970s. As startling and historic as that event may be, it’s years too late Read more
The Vatican’s mills usually grind slowly, but the Pope acted fast in accepting a Brazilian bishop’s resignation days after a sexually explicit video spread on social media. The video featured someone resembling and purporting to be the bishop. Sao Paulo’s Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva’s name has already been connected with a number of serious Read more
France’s highest court for civil cases as cleared Catholic cardinal Philippe Barbarin (70) of concealing a predator priest’s sex abuse of minors. The Court of Cassation agreed with an appeals court that ruled the nine victims who filed suit against Barbarin some five years ago could have directly filed a complaint against the now-defrocked priest, Read more
Anne Barrett Doyle is a devoted mother, practicing Catholic, and one of the fiercest crusaders against clergy sex abuse. Are you Catholic?” Anne Barrett Doyle smiled at me expectantly with kind, sea-green eyes. It was months before the pandemic hit, and Barrett Doyle had invited me over to the Boston loft she and her husband Read more