Before I became a Catholic 10 years ago I viewed the papacy as a monarchy, representing great strength and self-assurance. 

Parishioners at St. Luke’s Parish in Thornhill, Ont., like Catholics around the world, have been wounded by the Church’s sexual abuse scandals. Now they’re ready to apply a little talk therapy to the wounds.

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and has instructed Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore to conduct an investigation into allegations that Bishop Bransfield sexually harassed adults.

VATICAN – Sexual and physical abuse by priests and religious and the scandal of its cover-up by church authorities thrive in countries where the Catholic Church is "elitist and clericalist," Pope Francis told Jesuits in Ireland in August.

VATICAN – The Catholic Church needs bishops who promote unity, “not soloists singing their own tune or captains fighting personal battles,” Pope Francis told new bishops from the Church’s mission territories.

ROME – The concern of now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and the promises made by the majority of church leaders were not able to stop the evil of clerical sexual abuse, which has been the 9/11 of the Catholic Church, the retired Pope's personal secretary said.

By now thousands of people have either scoffed at or praised Pope Francis for responding to another round of sexual abuse revelations with a long letter condemning clericalism. 

VATICAN – Clericalism has led to a distorted view of authority that has contributed to the problems of sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience affecting the Catholic Church, said the head of the Vatican's clergy office.

DUBLIN – Pope Francis spent 90 minutes meeting privately with eight survivors of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy or in Catholic-run schools and institutions.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM DUBLIN – Pope Francis said Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's long document calling on him to resign is written in a way that people should be able to draw their own conclusions.

DUBLIN – Before celebrating Mass in a Dublin park, Pope Francis solemnly asked forgiveness for the thousands of cases of sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by Catholics in Ireland.

KNOCK, Ireland – On a foggy, soggy day at a Marian shrine in County Mayo, Pope Francis said he prayed before a statue of Our Lady of Knock for all those who suffered sexual and physical abuse by Catholic clergy or in Catholic-run institutions in Ireland.

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.

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

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.