ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- In a remarkably frank and detailed speech, the Vatican official heading the department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations told an assembly of Catholic journalists that his investigators and the press "share the same goal, which is the protection of minors, and we have the same wish to leave the world a little better than how we found it."
BALTIMORE -- The U.S. bishops are set to vote on a 10-point statement, "Affirming Our Episcopal Commitments," in which the bishops hope to regain "the trust of the people of God."
ROME -- The brothers of the ecumenical Taize community said they have received five reports of sexual assaults on minors committed by three of their members in a period from the 1950s to the 1980s.
HOUSTON, Texas (CNA) -- The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference has been accused of mishandling an allegation of sexual coercion made against his former vicar general.
WARSAW, Poland -- The Polish bishops' administrative council met in emergency session May 22 and later admitted the church failed to act against clerical sexual abuse.
Brazilian bishop resigns amid charges
SAO PAULO -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a bishop under investigation for extortion, mismanagement of funds and covering up alleged clerical abuse against minors.
VATICAN CITY - The clerical sexual abuse crisis is rooted in the "egregious event" of the cultural and sexual revolution of the 1960s and a collapse in the belief of absolute truth and in God, retired Pope Benedict XVI wrote in a lengthy reflection.
ROME – Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins has accused the Vatican bureaucracy of “shameful” resistance to fighting clerical sex abuse in the Catholic Church as she quit a key panel set up by Pope Francis.
Clergy abuse survivor says Vatican commission is making progress
The only abuse survivor currently serving on a panel set up by Pope Francis to fight clerical sexual abuse says the Catholic Church is making good progress and welcomed changes initiated by the Vatican and the pontiff.
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has effectively addressed the “worldwide scourge” of clerical sexual abuse over the past decade and promoted the reporting of allegations to both Church and legal authorities, a United Nations panel heard.
VATICAN CITY - Appearing before a UN committee monitoring adherence to an international treaty designed to fight torture, Vatican officials repeatedly were asked about efforts to investigate allegations of clerical sexual abuse, punish offenders and co-operate with civil authorities in prosecuting the perpetrators.
Antigonish clears its abuse debt
ANTIGONISH, N.S. - The diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia no longer owes $16 million to 125 victims of clerical sexual abuse.
The diocese has made its final payment to settle a class-action lawsuit, the Canadian Press reports. The settlement was negotiated by former Bishop Raymond Lahey, who was arrested on charges of importing child pornography just three weeks after announcing the deal to settle claims dating as far back as the 1950s.
The lawsuit was initiated in 2002 by Ron Martin, whose brother committed suicide that year leaving a note about abuse he suffered at the hands of Fr. Hugh Vincent MacDonald. MacDonald was charged in 2003 but died before his trial could come to a conclusion.
The last payment is not the end of the process of healing, said diocesan spokesman Fr. Don MacGillivray.
“Healing always takes time,” MacGillivray told the Canadian Press. “But I’m a person of hope, and that’s what my faith calls me to be.”
The diocese put 150 properties up for sale, dumped its shares in the local weekly paper, The Casket, and drained savings from parishes to come up with the full settlement.