On September 4, 1781, Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, with the assistance of two Franciscan priests, gave the village its official name, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula

In English: "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Porziuncola River." Continue reading

The nuns, from the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary order, argued that Perry's lawyers misled a judge using the document, which had been incorrectly translated from Latin.

The five sisters said that, properly translated, the paperwork would have prevented the pop songstress from completing her US$14.5million purchase.

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Pope Francis has appointed Fr Robert Barron as one of three new auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles.

Bishop-elect Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, host of the award-winning "Catholicism" film series, and since 2012 has served as the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago.

His website, WordOnFire.org, reaches millions of people each year and his regular YouTube videos have been viewed more than 13 million times.

Next to Pope Francis, he is the most-followed Catholic leader on social media, according to the Word on Fire website.

Bishop-elect Barron said he was surprised at his appointment, but accepts it with a humble and joyful heart.

He said he couldn't think of "a more exciting field for this sort of work [the evangelisation of culture] than Los Angeles, which is certainly one of the great cultural centres of our time".

Bishop-elect Barron said Word on Fire would continue to deliver his regular articles, sermons, videos, and media resources.

Planned projects, including a new film and study programme on God and atheism and a documentary series on prayer, will continue as planned with more to come.

Mgr Joseph Brennan and Irish-born Mgr David O'Connell have also been made auxiliary bishops for Los Angeles.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Los Angeles auxiliary Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, who has reached retirement age.

Los Angeles is the largest archdiocese in the US by population, with about 4.3 million Catholics.

The archdiocese currently has four active auxiliary bishops and two retired auxiliaries (including Bishop Wilkerson).

"I think it is clear that in appointing these new auxiliary bishops, Pope Francis really understands what the Church needs - not just here in Los Angeles, but also in the United States and across the Americas," Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement.

Sources

• Word on Fire Catholic Ministries
• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Service
• Image: The Catholic Spirit

Fr John Wadeson "has been reinstated fully to public ministry", the Archdiocese of Agana stated.

Fr Wadeson left the Redemptoris Mater Seminary on Guam in July last year, after serving in Agana archdiocese since 2000.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese in the United States named Fr Wadeson and dozens of other priests in its "Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse Archdiocese of Los Angeles 1930-2003".

The report was published in 2004, at which time the allegations against Fr Wadeson were deemed "credible".

The accuation against Fr Wadeson were reportedly made in the 1990s, about alleged abuse in the 1970s involving two children.

But a re-examination of his case by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez cleared him.

Last year, at the request of Fr Wadeson, the archdiocese of Los Angeles conducted "a re-examination of the matter", the Archdiocese of Agana stated, citing its Los Angeles counterpart.

"Having reviewed the documentation presented by Fr Wadeson, and following the 2014 re-examination, the archdiocese has concluded that there is no reason to preclude Fr Wadeson from serving in priestly ministry," the Archdiocese of Agana stated.

The archdiocese didn't state whether Fr Wadeson will return to Guam.

The historic accusations against Fr Wadeson were brought to light last year by the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests.

Commenting on the latest development concerning Fr Wadeson, SNAP director David Clohessy said his organisation had little faith in internal church inquiries in these matters.

Instead, Mr Clohessy said the examinations should be done by independent, experienced and unbiased professionals in law enforcement, "not by self-interested, biased amateurs in church offices".

Sources

• Mariannas Variety
• Guam Pacific Daily News
• Image: Guam Stripes

According to the Los Angeles Times, the latest settlement was for US$13million for 17 victims of alleged abuse by Fr Nicholas Aguilar-Riviera in the 1980s.

Attorneys for the victims allege Cardinal Roger Mahoney and an aide "actively thwarted" and "misled" police.

Officials say this is the last of the archdiocese's pending molestation lawsuits.

The payouts to more than 500 victims have financially devastated the archdiocese.

It has sold off real estate, taken out a US$175 million loan and used some of its US$115 million set aside for cemetery maintenance to pay settlements.

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The papers, which were released under the terms of a $660 million settlement agreement reached in 2007, pertain to a dozen priests, brothers and nuns accused of sexual misconduct in the landmark 2007 settlement.

An additional 45 religious orders will release the personnel files of their accused clergy by this fall, reports said.

News reports added that the 1,700 pages of documents differ markedly from those disclosed in January by the Los Angeles Archdiocese to comply with the terms of its settlement with all victims.

The archdiocese handed over materials reflecting Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's meticulous record-keeping of molestation claims and treatment of accused offenders.

Although the archdiocese took the lead in the litigation of sex abuse cases, about half of the alleged perpetrators belonged to religious orders, such as the Jesuits, Salesians and Vincentians, and answered to those orders rather than the local archbishop.

The papers released this week cover the Marianists, the Benedictines, the Oblates and two orders of nuns.

The fact that the files don't reflect the misconduct alleged in civil lawsuits doesn't mean it didn't happen, said attorney Ray Boucher, counsel of the victims who posted the documents on his firm's website.

"Much of this went unreported," he said. "You're talking about kids that were terrorized and frightened in so many different ways, with no place and no one to turn to."

Sources

LA Times

AP/The Eagle

Daily News

Image:Vedict Justia

At the same time, Archbishop Gomez complied with a court order by releasing 12,000 pages of documents containing the personnel files of clergy accused of sexual abuse and posting the files online.

He also accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, regional bishop for Santa Barbara, who was at one time Cardinal Mahony's vicar for clergy and chief advisor on sex abuse cases.

Archbishop Gomez succeeded Cardinal Mahony as archbishop of Los Angeles in 2011.

The documents released showed that Cardinal Mahony, 76, and Bishop Curry, 70, both worked to send priests accused of abuse out of the state to shield them from scrutiny.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Archbishop Gomez said. "The behaviour described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed."

He added: "We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today. We need to pray for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church. And we need to continue to support the long and painful process of healing their wounds and restoring the trust that was broken."

Jesuit Father Tom Reese of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center and author of several books about the power structure of the Church, said Archbishop Gomez's steps were extraordinary.

"An archbishop has never before restricted the ministry of his predecessor and publicly taken him to task like this," he said.

In a response, Cardinal Mahony said "nothing in my own background or education" equipped him to deal with the sexual abuse of children.

He said the advice he was given was "to remove priests from active ministry if there was reasonable suspicion that abuse had occurred, and then refer them to one of the several residential treatment centres across the country for evaluation and recommendation", and was never told that these procedures were not effective.

He also claimed that under his leadership the archdiocese became "second to none in protecting children and youth".

Sources:

Los Angeles Times

Catholic News Service

National Catholic Reporter

Image: Zimbio