Posts Tagged ‘clerical abuse’

Pope warns clerical abuse is rooted in a sense of superiority

Monday, February 12th, 2024
sense of superiority

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

Synodal church must be more accountable

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

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

Vatican’s updated guidelines for handling abuse cases released

Thursday, June 30th, 2022
updated guidelines

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

Spanish bishops will not participate in civil abuse inquiry

Thursday, May 5th, 2022
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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 NZ wants Benedict prosecuted if evidence found

Thursday, February 10th, 2022
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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

Given abuse reforms, expert says bishops have ‘no excuse’ for failure

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021
The Catholic Leader

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

Activist priest reinstated

Monday, May 31st, 2021

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

Institute of Anthropology to broaden understanding of abuse in Catholic Church

Monday, May 3rd, 2021
abuse in catholic church

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

Royal Commission reveals details of its inquiry into the Catholic Church

Thursday, August 20th, 2020
royal commission

The Royal Commission has just made public the details of its inquiry into the Catholic Church. During its investigation, the Royal Commission will select themes, settings or institutions as case studies of abuse. It may conduct research and examine relevant matters in public hearings, roundtables, hui and fono. What happened and why? In considering the Read more

Fiji’s Archbishop offers an apology for abuse

Thursday, July 16th, 2020
apology

The head of the Fiji Catholic Church has made an apology for the behaviour of  Catholic priests, religious and teachers who allegedly abused Fijian children. Archbishop Peter Loy Chong was responding to a news report on TVNZ by pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver. For the last year, 1 NEWS has been investigating claims of historic sexual Read more