News/International

Pope Francis prepares to speak during a meeting with authorities, civil society leaders and members of the diplomatic corps in Dublin Castle in Dublin Aug. 25.

Pope Francis acknowledges 'repugnant crimes' of sex abuse in Ireland

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DUBLIN – Acknowledging the failures "of bishops, religious superiors, priests and others" in the Catholic Church to protect children from the "repugnant crimes" of physical and sexual abuse, Pope Francis began his two-day visit to Ireland.
Marie Collins is seen at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin Aug. 24. She is a survivor of clerical sex abuse and a former member of the Pontifical Commission for Protection of Minors.

Prominent Irish abuse survivor defends Cardinal O'Malley

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DUBLIN – Marie Collins, a survivor of Irish clerical sex abuse, has given her backing to Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley as president of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
An LGBT choir sings outside the Pastoral Congress at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin Aug. 23.

Fr. James Martin says gay people have been treated like 'lepers' by the church

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DUBLIN (CNS) -- U.S. Jesuit Father James Martin set out a series of ways in which parishes can show welcome and respect to LGBT Catholics.
Cardinal Collins: ‘Evil’ must be rooted out to renew Church

Cardinal Collins: ‘Evil’ must be rooted out to renew Church

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The “evil” in the Church can and must be “rooted out,” Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins says.

Pope Francis greets participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Clergy during an audience at the Vatican June 1. The cardinals pictured in the first row are: Giuseppe Betori of Florence, Italy; Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England; Donald W. Wuerl of Washington; and Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

World's bishops call for action on sex abuse; English bishop wants synod on clergy

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MANCHESTER, England – A global synod on priests could help the church to end the "terrible" scandals of clerical child abuse, an English bishop told Pope Francis.
Priests sit below the statue of St. Peter as Pope Francis celebrates Mass marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 29. In an Aug. 20 letter to all Catholics, the pope blamed clericalism for helping to support and perpetuate sexual abuse committed by clergy.

The culture of clericalism that enables abuse and insists on hiding it

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VATICAN – Pope Francis blamed "clericalism" in the Catholic Church for creating a culture where criminal abuse was widespread and extraordinary efforts were made to keep the crimes hidden.
A study observed that the average age at which boys in the U.S. and the U.K. begin to view internet pornography is now 11.

WMF panel: Families urged to come up with 'media plan' to help protect minors from pornography

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DUBLIN – Behavioral scientists and cybercrime experts talked to families about how digital distraction, pornography and the "online echo chamber" impact their lives, during one of the first panels at the international World Meeting of Families.
Becky Ianni, who is the Washington and Virginia director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, holds a photo of herself as a child with a priest Aug. 21 outside the headquarters of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. Lanni was allegedly abused by the priest in the photo.

Victims call for federal investigation of sex abuse in Catholic Church

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WASHINGTON – Some victims of clergy sex abuse and their supporters are calling on federal and state entities to investigate sex abuse within the Catholic Church and root out abusers and anyone who has protected them.
St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church, Parma, Ohio.

Priest attacked in church; assailant cited retribution for church sex abuse

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MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – A Byzantine Catholic priest was attacked Aug. 20 in the altar servers' sacristy of his church in Merrillville, near Gary in the northwestern part of the state.
Clergy abuse survivor Andrew Madden poses for a photograph after an Aug. 16 interview in Dublin. Madden became the first victim of clergy sex abuse in Ireland to speak out publicly in 1995 when he detailed how, as a 12-year-old altar boy, he suffered two-and-a-half years of abuse at the hands of his parish priest. The Vatican press office confirmed Aug. 21 that Pope Francis would meet survivors of sexual abuse during his trip to Ireland Aug. 25-26.

Pope to meet sex abuse survivors in Ireland at World Meeting of Families

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VATICAN – Pope Francis will meet survivors of sexual abuse during his trip to Ireland Aug. 25-26, but it will be up to the survivors to decide whether any information about the meeting will be released, said the director of the Vatican press office.
Pope Francis is pictured during the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican in this Oct. 5, 2015.

Pope Francis says teachings of 'Amoris Laetitia' will mature, not rupture

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VATICAN – Everything in the document "Amoris Laetitia" on marriage and family life is based on Catholic Church teaching "always in continuity -- without ruptures -- yet always maturing," Pope Francis said.
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