News/International

Prelates attend the opening session of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 21, 2019.

Bishops must protect their flock from abuse at all costs, Archbishop Scicluna says

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VATICAN – Catholics need to know that their leaders "mean business" when it comes to protecting minors from abuse, the Vatican's top abuse investigator told representatives of the world's bishops and religious orders.
Prelates are seen during the opening session of the meeting on the protection of minors at the Vatican in this screen grab taken from video Feb. 21, 2019. Second from left is Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Survivors expose 'cancer' of clerical sex abuse at summit

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VATICAN – "Every time I refused to have sex with him, he would beat me," an abuse survivor from Africa told Pope Francis and bishops attending the Vatican summit on child protection and the abuse crisis.
Pope Francis attends the opening session of the meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 21, 2019.

Vatican sex abuse summit opens with acknowledgment of evil committed

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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.
Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, speaks with journalists near the Vatican in Rome Feb. 20, 2019.

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

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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.
Ahead of a major Vatican summit on the protection of minors, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, has criticized Catholics who use the issue of clerical abuse to score points against people they disagree with in the church. Archbishop Martin is pictured in an Aug. 26, 2018, photo in Dublin.

Irish archbishop warns against sex abuse becoming 'political football'

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DUBLIN – Ahead of a major Vatican summit on the protection of minors, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, has criticized Catholics who use the issue of clerical abuse to score points against people they disagree with in the church.
Then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and then-Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl leave a 2006 news conference after the archbishop was introduced as the new head of the Washington Archdiocese.

Notre Dame rescinds McCarrick's honourary degree

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SOUTH BEND, Ind., – The University of Notre Dame has rescinded the honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree it conferred on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2008, becoming the latest of a growing number of schools who have rescinded honorary degrees from the defrocked former archbishop.
Tim Lennon, board president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, poses in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Feb. 20, 2019.

Blaming homosexuality for sex abuse of minors is 'absolutely immoral', victims say

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ROME – People must stop using homosexuals as scapegoats for the sexual abuse of children, two male survivors of abuse by priests told reporters.
Nick Sandmann, a junior at Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., and others students from the school stand in front of Native American Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in this still image from video Jan. 18, 2019. Sandmann filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit Feb. 19 against The Washington Post claiming the newspaper's coverage of the incident was biased.

Covington Catholic student sues Washington Post for $250 million on defamation

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WASHINGTON – The Catholic high school student at the center of an encounter with a Native American tribal leader in Washington filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit Feb. 19 against The Washington Post claiming the newspaper's coverage of the incident was biased.
Bishop Michael C. Barber of Oakland, Calif., is pictured in a June 24, 2013, photo. The diocese has released the names of 45 priests, deacons and religious brothers who officials say are "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors.

Publishing priest-abusers list an 'act of contrition', Oakland bishop says

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OAKLAND, Calif. – The Diocese of Oakland, which serves two California counties in the East Bay area, published Feb. 18 a list of priests, deacons and religious brothers who have worked in the diocese and been credibly accused of abuse, dating back to the diocese's founding in 1962.
Irma J. Locasia holds a photo of her son Salvador J. Locasia Jr. in Manila, Philippines, Feb. 13, 2019. Her son was killed in a police operation on this street Aug. 31, 2016, a victim of the war on drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte's drug war is 'illegal, immoral and anti-poor', Philippine bishop says

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CALOOCAN, Philippines – A Catholic bishop in the Philippines said his government's controversial war on drugs is really a war against the country's poor.
Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa Abascal, Superior General of the Jesuits and head of men's Union of Superiors General.

Religious superiors admit denial, slowness to act against sex abuse

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VATICAN – Twisted ideas of power and authority in the Catholic Church have contributed to the clerical sexual abuse crisis, leaders of religious orders said, but sometimes the positive "sense of family" in their own communities also made them slow to act.
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