The lawsuit in the US federal court aims to compel the Vatican to open its archives and "release all the identities of thousands of offenders known exclusively by the Vatican and held in strict secrecy," lawyer Jeff Anderson says.

Anderson says he wants to show that the Vatican tried to cover up actions by top church officials including former Archbishop John Nienstedt and the 3,400 others who were referred to the Vatican for "credible cases of abuse."

That number was released by the Vatican in 2014.

The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit include three brothers who were abused by a former priest as recently as 2012.

The priest pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct and child pornography in connection with his contact with two of the boys, who were 12 and 14. The brothers are not named in the press release.

The lawsuit comes less than a week after Pope Francis issued a new church law requiring all priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.

The law is part of a new effort to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable and is expected to bring countless new cases of molestation to light.

Victims' groups are dissatisfied, however, because the church law doesn't compel reporting of abuses made in confession nor does it force dioceses to tell authorities when abuses are reported.

The Vatican is struggling to deal with a global epidemic of sexual assault by priests, in particular of minors. Much of the abuse has gone on for decades.

A grand jury investigation into dioceses in Pennsylvania published in 2018 threw light on sexual abuse by "over 300 predator priests" systematically covered up by the Church, with more than 1,000 child victims identifiable.

Source

• ABS CBN News
• AP News
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The lawsuit was filed after the metro system banned the archdiocese's Christmas ads.

A series of ads promoting Christmas Mass schedules and ways to help the needy during the holiday season had been prepared.

They were to be shown on the sides of buses and on bus kiosks.

The graphics for the ads show the Three Wise Men and a couple of sheep looking at the star pointing to the place of Christ's birth.

The metro rejected the ads because they were religious.

"The rejected ad conveys a simple message of hope, and an invitation to participate in the Christmas season.

"Yet citing its guidelines, WMATA's legal counsel said the ad "depicts a religious scene and thus seeks to promote religion," a statement from an archdiocesan spokesperson says.

"To borrow from a favorite Christmas story, under WMATA's guidelines, if the ads are about packages, boxes or bags — if Christmas comes from a store - then it seems WMATA approves. But if Christmas means a little bit more, WMATA plays Grinch," the spokesperson added.

A metro spokesperson says religious advertisements have been banned since 2015.

"In 2015, WMATA changed its advertising policy to prohibit issue-oriented advertising, including political, religious and advocacy advertising.

"The ad in question was declined because it is prohibited by WMATA's current advertising guidelines,' the manager of WMATA's media relations says.

But the archdiocese says the metro has been inconsistent in the way it enforces the rule.

It claims the metro allows the Salvation Army, a Christian group, to advertise and allows Christmas advertisements that play into the commercial side of the season.

Source

• The Daily Mail
• WJLA
• Image: Dancing to God

A lawsuit has been filed against Fr Virgilio Elizondo, a theology professor at Notre Dame, as well as against a former priest and San Antonio archdiocese.

The lawsuit alleges a boy was abused again after he reported previous abuse to Fr Elizondo.

Unspecified damages are sought in the lawsuit.

A Notre Dame spokesman said the university was "reserving comment until further inquiries are completed".

Fr Elizondo is currently a professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at Notre Dame.

He has pursued scholarly work in theology, evangelisation, faith and spirituality, culture and public ritual.

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