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March 20, 2019

Abuse victim looks for a Church that ‘tries to shed the wall’

Leona Huggins told her story of abuse to a symposium at the University of St. Michael’s College on the University of Toronto campus.

Leona Huggins keeps telling her story — even though it’s unpleasant and she’s tired of talking about it. 

Published in Canada
March 19, 2019

Abuse crisis a chance to change ‘future of our Church’

“Our Church will always be a mixed community of holiness and sin,” said Brain Flanagan, author of Stumbling in Holiness, said at the March 14-15 symposium on abuse in Toronto.

American author and theologian Brian Flanagan believes it is natural that victims of sexual abuse remain suspicious of the Church.

Published in Canada
March 15, 2019

Polish church releases first report on clerical sex abuse

Polish bishops attend a news conference to release the church's first clerical sex abuse report March 14. In zucchettos, from left, are Bishop Artur Mizinski, secretary-general of the Polish bishops' conference; Archbishops Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow; Stanislaw Gadecki, bishops' conference president; and Wojciech Polak of Gniezno.
WARSAW, Poland – A top Polish Catholic leader, named the first bishops' conference delegate for child protection, welcomed a church report on sexual abuse by clergy in his country and vowed efforts to combat it.
Published in International
March 15, 2019

Church must follow, accept local laws on abuse, Fr. Hans Zollner says

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, prays at the start of the third day of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 23, 2019.
VATICAN – The Catholic Church must respect the law and accept court decisions regarding clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up, said Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a leading expert in child protection.
Published in International
March 12, 2019

Pope's sixth year in office marked by 'scourge of abuse, internal attacks'

Pope Francis and the heads of bishops' conferences from around the world attend a Mass on the last day of the four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 24, 2019.
VATICAN – Catholics cannot place blame for the sexual abuse crisis on "those who came before us" in an attempt "to present ourselves as 'pure,'" said the editorial director of the Vatican media outlets.
Published in International
March 12, 2019

Chilean cardinal addresses rape case in Santiago cathedral

Pope Francis greets Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago, Chile, during a meeting with representatives of the Chilean bishops' conference at the Vatican Jan. 14. The Pope and the leadership of the conference met to talk about the sex abuse crisis affecting the church in Chile.
SANTIAGO, Chile – Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago on Thursday denied knowing and giving money to the complainant in a rape case in the cathedral which took place in 2015.
Published in International
March 7, 2019

French cardinal convicted for sex abuse cover-up

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon arrives at the courthouse Jan. 7 in Lyon. Cardinal Barbarin and others are on trial for failing to discipline a local priest who allegedly abused children while running a Scout group in the 1980s.
VATICAN – A French cardinal was given a six-month suspended sentence at a civil trial after he was found guilty of covering up abuses committed decades ago by a priest.
Published in International
February 24, 2019

No more excuses; time for 'all-out battle' against crime of abuse, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass attended by the heads of bishops' conferences from around the world on the last day of the four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 24, 2019.
VATICAN – The time has come for an "all-out battle" against the abuse of minors, erasing this abominable crime from the face of the earth, Pope Francis said, closing a global four-day summit on child protection in the Catholic Church.
Published in International
February 23, 2019

Lack of transparency harms church, justice, victims, Cardinal Marx says

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich speaks at a briefing on the third day of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 23, 2019. Also pictured are Father Arturo Sosa Abascal, superior general of the Society of Jesus, and Nigerian Sister Veronica Openibo, congregational leader of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.
VATICAN – Transparent, reliable and respectful administration is critical for counteracting sinful behavior within the Catholic Church, said German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising.
Published in International
February 22, 2019

Bob Brehl: Toronto priest doesn’t pull any punches on clerical abuse

Fr. Michael Machacek

Even before Pope Francis called on bishops from around the globe to meet for a Vatican sex abuse summit, a Toronto priest was travelling to parishes to talk about the origins of and solutions to clergy abuse of minors.

Published in Register Columnists
February 22, 2019

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza: Sex abuse summit is catch-up time for much of the world

Pope Francis walks with bishops at the Vatican Feb. 22, 2019, as he arrives for the second day of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church.

It is déjà vu all over again for Canadian bishops who travelled to Rome for the Vatican’s meeting on the protection of minors in the Church.

Published in Register Columnists
February 22, 2019

Church needs new structure to ensure bishops' accountability, Cardinal Cupich says

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia, attend the second day of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church, at the Vatican Feb. 22, 2019.
VATICAN – The Catholic Church needs "new legal structures of accountability" for bishops accused of sexual abuse or of negligence in handling abuse allegations, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago told the Vatican summit on safeguarding.
Published in International
February 21, 2019

Vatican sex abuse summit opens with acknowledgment of evil committed

Pope Francis attends the opening session of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 21, 2019.
VATICAN – Opening the Vatican summit on child protection and the clerical sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis said, "The holy people of God are watching and are awaiting from us not simple, predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures" to stop abuse.
Published in International
February 20, 2019

Survivors demand that Church leaders 'break the code of silence' at abuse summit

Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, speaks with journalists near the Vatican in Rome Feb. 20, 2019.
VATICAN – Abuse survivors and support groups were very clear about what they want the world's bishops, religious superiors, the pope and the Vatican to do to protect children and end clerical sexual abuse.
Published in International
February 13, 2019

Doing the right thing: Abuse summit aims to put the world’s bishops on the same page

After a year of scandal upon scandal, Pope Francis will be front and centre when the heads of the conferences of bishops are in Rome Feb. 21-24 to address clerical sexual abuse and safeguarding minors.

Ever since Pope Francis announced in September that he was calling the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences to Rome for an unprecedented summit on sexual abuse, expectations have been mounting.

Published in International
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