While numerous abuse allegations about a priest were upheld, New Zealand civil law meant it was almost a decade before his defrocking. The man faced complaints from more than one woman before being defrocked (removed from the clerical state). The former priest – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was defrocked last month. Read more
A priest became the victim of a man’s false memory after the priest was wrongly accused of sexually abusing a minor. After alleging Fr Jerome Kaywell had abused him in 2013 and 2014, the unnamed accuser recanted his claims. He went on to apologise in writing to Kaywell. He excused himself, declaring his allegation was Read more
Pope Francis cautioned a gathering of priests about the scourge of clerical abuse, asserting that it stems from a sense of superiority among priests. “We can live our priestly ministry well only immersed in the priestly people from whom we come” advised the pope. “This belonging to the people — do not ever let us Read more
The ongoing synod on synodality is an opportunity for the church leadership to become more accountable towards sexual abuse cases, increase laity participation, and bring more transparency within the Catholic Church, says an expert. “A synodal Church is a listening Church… but it needs to go a step further: a synodal Church is an accountable Read more
The Vatican has released slightly updated guidelines for bishops, religious superiors and canon lawyers handling cases of alleged clerical abuse. It is two years since the original step-by-step guide was released. Called “Version 2.0”, the updated guidelines provide a new section of the Code of Canon Law dealing with crimes and punishments in the Church. Read more
Spain’s bishops say they will not take part in the national legislature-organised commission into clerical sexual abuse. They allege the commission won’t look into all sexual abuse of minors but only those committed by members of the Catholic Church. Of Spain’s 15,000 open cases, the vast majority were committed by people who are not part Read more
SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI to be prosecuted if evidence proves he obstructed clerical child abuse complaints when he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Christopher Longhurst, who coordinates Aotearoa New Zealand’s Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was commenting on the likelihood of Benedict’s knowledge of Read more
A leading Catholic child protection expert says bishops have ‘no excuse’ for failure, given the abuse reforms being developed by the Church. Father Hans Zollner SJ said progress is being made to deal with the problem of clerical sexual abuse. Speaking of recent reforms ahead of this week’s three-day summit on child protection taking place Read more
A US priest has been reinstated in his parish after a four-month investigation found “insufficient reason to suspect” he sexually abused children. The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago confirmed Chicago priest Michael Pfleger has been released and will be reinstated. Pfleger is a nationally known activist. Four months ago when the archdiocese asked Pfleger to step Read more
The Center for Child Protection (CCP), founded in 2012, is to have a new name with a broader focus on understanding abuse cases in the Catholic Church. The Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care (IADC) will open next September at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. Its purpose is to Read more