When the Vatican announced new procedures to hold bishops accountable in May, the main question was: Will it work? The legislation – called Vos Estis Lux Mundi – enacted what is known as the Metropolitan Model, in which archbishops would play a prominent role in policing those bishops in their ecclesiastical province. This week, the Read more
An investigation into alleged sex abuses by priests in the Diocese of Pennsylvania in the United States found that two bishops protected over 50 priests who sexually abused hundreds of children. The 147-page grand jury report came uncovered a “secret archive” of evidence stuffed into boxes and filing cabinets in a church office in the Read more
Several Chilean priests have demanded the resignation of a newly-appointed bishop whom they accuse of covering up for a cleric who abused altar servers. A group of priests and deacons in Osorno have complained to the apostolic nuncio for Chile about Bishop Juan Barros Madrid. The priests and deacons allege the bishop covered up for Read more
A Vatican official facing money-laundering charges has appealed to Pope Francis, insisting he is innocent and claiming he was betrayed by his superiors. Accused cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano wrote to the Pope from Rome’s Regina Caeli prison, where he is detained on charges of planning to bring €20 million in cash ($NZ33.5 million) into Italy Read more
One of the documentaries being screened in the New Zealand International Film Festival is billed as a “meticulously composed and damning story of a protest against and a cover-up of sexual abuse by a priest in Milwaukee in the 1960s. Its title, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, was made by the prolific Oscar-winning film-maker Alex Gibney.” Read more
An apologetic Cardinal George Pell has appeared before a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse and vehemently denied personally covering up offending by priests. “No. Never,” the Sydney cardinal told the inquiry. He said the offending had largely escaped the view of Church officials who didn’t know what a “mess” they were presiding over. Cardinal Read more
A nun tipped off a paedophile priest the night before he was to be interviewed by police, a former police officer has told a commission of inquiry into child sex abuse in New South Wales. Troy Grant, a former police officer who is now a member of the state Parliament, said the nun visited his Read more