US Catholics’ confidence in Pope Francis’s ability to handle the sex abuse crisis besetting the Church is down by a two-to-one margin, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The survey results released this week show: 30% of American Catholic adults say Francis is doing an “excellent” or a “good” job addressing the issue Read more
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written a second letter to the Vatican about former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick. This one condemns the Vatican for not responding to his first letter of 22 August. In that, he claimed Pope Francis and other senior Church leaders covered up allegations of McCarrick’s abusive behaviour, and that Francis not only Read more
Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet says women should assess seminarians’ suitability for the priesthood and help with their training. This would help prevent future sex abuse, says Ouellet the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. He also thinks bishops should also be chosen more carefully. “We are facing a crisis in the life of the church… Read more
Reports that Benedict XVI confirmed some of Archbishop Carlo Viganò’s claims about a cover-up of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians are “fake news.” Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is the prefect of the papal household for Pope Francis, says Pope-emeritus Benedict “has not commented” on an 11-page letter from Viganò, which was released by the Read more
As the sexual abuse scandal surrounding Cardinal Theodore McCarrick continued to spread in the past week. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who heads the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, acknowledged on Monday (July 23) that “a major gap still exists in the church’s policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse.” O’Malley, who is Read more