The scale of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions is far wider than expected, a royal commission has reported. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivered its interim report to government on June 30. So far the commission has received allegations of child sexual abuse in more than 1000 individual institutions. Read more
The Australian Bishop who heads the Church’s military diocese has been charged with child sex offences that allegedly took place in 1969. Bishop Max Davis was not ordained at the time of the alleged offending, and he “emphatically denies” the charges, which will be defended. It is understood he is the first Australian bishop and Read more
As Brazil counts down to the opening of the World Cup on June 12, churches in cities hosting the international soccer tournament are not content to sit on the sidelines and cheer. They’ve launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the hundreds of vulnerable children at risk of sexual exploitation during the monthlong competition. Read more
The United Nations Committee against Torture has issued a damning report on the Vatican’s response to the clergy child sex abuse crisis. Among the committee’s accusations were failures to report allegations of abuse to authorities, and refusing to disclose information for criminal proceedings. The report cited Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Papal Nuncio to Australia, who, it Read more
The Christian Brothers have paid more than A$20 million to victims of sexual and physical abuse in Australia. The figure was revealed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at hearings in Perth on May 6. The payments by the order and Catholic Church insurance were made to 531 people, usually Read more
The Vatican has faced intense questioning about child sexual abuse before a United Nations committee that oversees a convention against torture. On May 5 in Geneva, the Vatican’s handling of the global clerical sex abuse scandal was compared with torture. If it does fit the definition of torture, any failure to investigate clergy and their superiors Read more
The Dutch Catholic Church has admitted that another of its dead bishops was a child abuser. A commission investigating Church sex abuse scandals in the Netherlands confirmed four complaints against Bishop Johannes Nienhaus, who died in 2000. Nienhaus was auxiliary bishop in Utrecht from 1982 to 1999. The abuse took place from the mid-1950s to Read more
The Catholic Church in the Netherlands has admitted that a Dutch bishop who died last year was a child abuser. A church complaints commission found that the late Bishop Jo Gijsen committed abuse. This happened decades ago when he was a chaplain and a teacher in the southern Netherlands. The abuse reportedly happened in 1958-9 Read more
Cardinal George Pell has admitted that he wanted to avoid big damages verdicts when he set up a response to deal with child sex abuse complaints in the Church. Cardinal Pell said this in giving evidence before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse in Sydney. The Melbourne Response, which Cardinal Pell Read more
Pope Francis is setting up a commission to advise him about protecting children from sexually abusive priests and about helping victims who have already been harmed. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, announced the creation of the commission Thursday at the conclusion of a meeting between the pope and his eight cardinal advisers. O’Malley Read more