One of the Pope’s key advisors has called for urgent action to be taken against a US bishop who shielded a priest who was a threat to children. Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley told US network CBS that the case of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City is “a question the Holy See needs to address Read more
A papal commission to protect children is to have another survivor of clerical sexual abuse join its membership. The Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established in December, will also have more representatives from other countries and disciplines. Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins is already a member of the commission, headed by Read more
Pope Francis is to meet with a group of clergy sex abuse victims for the first time, possibly as early as next week. During an impromptu media session on his flight back from the Holy Land, the Pope said the meeting would take place in the first week in June. Six to eight victims would Read more
One of the worst effects of modern clergy sex abuse scandals is cynicism about the call to holiness, a senior cardinal says. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said this at the tenth National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on May 13. He heads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors set up by Pope Read more
A planned re-enactment of a satanic black Mass by a Harvard University student club was cancelled only hours before its scheduled start on May 12. After protests that the event was offensive to Catholics, the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club initially decided to move the event off campus. But another venue could not be found, Read more
Bishops should be held accountable if they don’t report suspected sex abuse or protect children from paedophile priests, a pontifical commission says. The new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held its first meeting from May 1-3 at the Vatican. Commission head Cardinal Sean O’Malley says a person’s rank in the Church should lead Read more
A cardinal and 12 bishops celebrated Mass on the United States-Mexico border to commemorate those who died while trying to cross it. Hundreds of would-be migrants trying to cross from Mexico into the US die each year in the desert of dehydration or hypothermia or in shootings by border patrols or vigilantes. The bishops also Read more