Acquitted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France has admitted to errors in governance for not denouncing former priest Bernard Preynat’s sexual abuse of minors. A week after the Court of Appeal in Lyon acquitted him Barbarin spoke of his “errors of governance” and discussed the “media tsunami” that has surrounded him in the past four Read more
Business Manager of the Ballarat Catholic Diocese, Andrew Jirik (pictured) is warning parish churches will not survive without more Catholics. In a ‘searing’ editorial in the diocesan newspaper, “Our Diocesan Community”, Jirik compared the challenge facing the diocese akin to the Protestant Reformation of some 500 years back. The Ballarat Catholic Diocese needs “more Catholics Read more
Victims of a doctor found guilty of misconduct are appalled he will continue to practice. Despite being found guilty of performing unjustified breast examinations, making comments about patients’ looks and raising inappropriate sexual issues with a 15-year-old, the doctor will not be suspended. One victim described the Health Practitioner’s Tribunal decision as a slap in Read more
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn has been appointed by the Vatican to conduct an investigation of the troubled Buffalo diocese in New York, where Bishop Richard Malone faces accusations of covering up sexual abuse by priests. The announcement was made late October 3 by the Brooklyn Diocese, following a request from the papal embassy in Read more
The ecclesiastical trial for an Italian priest accused of breaking the seal of confession has begun. Orazio Caputoto is accused of informing members of a controversial lay group Catholic Culture and Environment Association (ACCA) of a police investigation into their leader for sexually abusing minors. If Caputo is found guilty of breaking the confessional seal, Read more
Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, one of Pope Francis’s first episcopal appointments in his home country, has been formally accused of sexually abusing seminarians and could face 3 to 10 years in prison. The information was released on Friday by the prosecutor’s office in the Argentine northern province of Salta. The bishop was charged with “aggravated Read more
A professor of dogmatic theology told a recent episcopal conference to face up to the destructive link that is ‘now impossible to deny’ between ‘power, celibacy and sexual morality in the Church’. German theologian Julia Knop said a “leaden silence” descended on the assembly from the moment she began to speak. At the Plenary Assembly Read more
Five sexual abuse victims of priests will sue the Vatican to get names and details of the priests involved, an attorney for the group says. 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 Read more
The president of the NZ Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Patrick Dunn, has told the New Zealand Herald that the Motu Proprio on the reporting of sexual abuse cases will be studied to make sure that the recommendations it contains are fully implemented. On 9 May Pope Francis issued the Motu Proprio making it mandatory for priests and Read more
A little less hysteria and a lot better collective memory would help us pope-watchers settle down. The Catholic Church – and the Pope – don’t have a nasty history on their own. Over much of the world, the concept of children’s rights is still non-existent, and child prostitution and slavery is a fact of everyday Read more