Church leaders are resisting India’s National Commission for Women’s call to ban confessions. The women’s group says it has proposed the ban because information disclosed in confessions is being used to blackmail the women who confessed it. There should be a federal inquiry into into complaints of rape and sexual assault involving priests, the group Read more
Australian Archbishop Philip Wilson has appealed his 12-month detention sentence for failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse. The allegations involved two altar boys who were abused by a paedophile priest. They disclosed the abuse to him in the 1970s. Wilson, who is 67, is the most senior Catholic official in the world to Read more
The author of the book, Darryl Smith says he was subject to abuse on his first night at Marylands – a Christchurch school for children with learning difficulties – in 1971. Woken from his sleep, the 6-year-old was called to an Order of St John of God brother’s office late in the evening and told one of the men responsible for Read more
Retired Washington cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, has been asked by the Vatican to cease his public ministry. He has been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a teenager almost 50 years ago. Read more
Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide has been found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse. He is the most senior Catholic official in the world to be charged and convicted of this offence. The 67-year old faces a possible two-year prison sentence. Wilson will be sentenced next week. He has announced he will stand down from Read more
The Australian court has ordered Cardinal George Pell to stand trial. He will be defending historical sexual offence allegations which he denies. The Vatican has issued the following statement about the court’s decision: “The Holy See has taken note of the decision issued by judicial authorities in Australia regarding His Eminence Cardinal George Pell. “Last Read more
Final submissions in a hearing to determine whether the case against Cardinal George Pell is strong enough to warrant a trial by jury have been made. Pell, who is Pope Francis’s former finance minister, is facing several sexual abuse charges. The alleged offences date back to when he was living in Victoria. Police have described Read more
The Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, is fighting to have charges that he covered up child sexual abuse reports thrown out of court. This is the fourth time Wilson has attempted to have the case rejected. Last year he lost an attempt in Sydney’s Court of Appeal to rule the charges invalid. His barrister Stephen Read more
Pope Francis has asked forgiveness from the victims of clerical sexual abuse in Chile after receiving a report by the papal envoy, Bishop Charles Scicluna. “I have made serious mistakes in the assessment and my perception of the situation, especially due to a lack of truthful and balanced information,” the Pope said in a letter Read more
The Archbishop of Hagåtña (Guam), has received the territory’s Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence’s Visionary Voice Award. Since the legislation was enacted on Guam to abolish the statutes of limitation in September 2016, 140 victims have filed lawsuits against the Archdiocese. Appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese Hagåtña in October 2016, Archbishop Byrnes faced Read more