Supporters of St John Paul II have defended his track record on dealing with clerical sexual abuse in the hours leading up to his canonisation. At a briefing 48 hours before the ceremony, papal biographer George Weigel said there was an “information gap” between the United States and the Holy See up to 2002. “But Read more
Remarks by Pope Francis defending the Church’s response to clergy sex abuse have prompted a torrent of criticism from victims’ groups. Critics charge that, in a recent interview in an Italian newspaper, Pope Francis did not apologise for the abuse. The Pope did acknowledge that “the cases of abuse are terrible because they leave very profound wounds”. Read more
Cardinal George Pell will give evidence at Royal Commission hearings dealing with child sex abuse before he leaves for Rome. A hearing in Sydney of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will examine the experience of abuse victim John Ellis. Mr Ellis’s claim of abuse by a priest in the 1970s Read more
The Vatican’s representative in Australia is claiming diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests for documents that might assist the NSW inquiry into child sex abuse. The Guardian reported that copies of correspondence released by the commission this week reveal the diplomatic stand-off between the papal nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and the chair of the Read more
Archbishop John Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis told parishioners and the media on Sunday that he’s sorry he overlooked issues of abuse among parish priests. He told parishioners and reporters that he was told the issue of clergy sex abuse was taken care of when he became archbishop seven years ago. Read more
Allegations of abuse have been made against 42 priests in the diocese of Down and Connor in Ireland in the past 38 years, an audit has revealed. The review was carried out by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children. It revealed that since 1975, 59 allegations had been made Read more
The Archbishop of Brisbane has admitted to “spectacular bungling” and “drastic failure” in dealing with a child sex abuse victim and flagged his willingness to revisit cases where victims’ needs have not been met. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Archbishop Mark Coleridge as saying that it was wrong that insurers and lawyers had determined how Read more
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has released the names of 30 priests it believes sexually abused children between 1950 and 2013. The archdiocese also released the names of four other priests who had been included on an earlier list, but Church officials now say those four should not have been included. Seven of 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
The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is to publish details of abuse allegations made between 2006 and 2012, the BBC reported. The church said it would reveal the number of incidents reported, their nature and the results of investigations into them. It will also carry out an audit of all historic abuse allegations made between Read more