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February 17, 2016

Pope snaps at pilgrim who caused him to fall into boy in wheelchair

Pope Francis scolds a person in the crowd after he was pulled onto a boy in a wheelchair during a Feb. 16 visit to a stadium in Morelia, Mexico, in a still image from pool video.

MORELIA, Mexico - Excitement turned potentially dangerous and elicited an angry snap from Pope Francis at a meeting with young people in Morelia Feb. 16.

Published in International
May 27, 2014

Clergy abuse victims are divided over Pope Francis’ offer to meet

Marie Collins, an Irish abuse victim whom Francis named to a Vatican commission to promote reforms.

Pope Francis’ announcement this week that he would meet with victims of sexual abuse by priests is dividing victim advocates, with some dismissing the move as “meaningless” and others endorsing it as a positive step, albeit taken belatedly and under pressure.

Published in International
May 6, 2014

Vatican defends record on sexual abuse to UN panel

The Vatican’s ambassador to UN agencies in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, told the panel May 6 that the Catholic Church had “crossed the threshold” in its approach to the issue of abuse, saying the Church’s internal culture had changed.

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.

Published in Vatican
May 4, 2014

Vatican could face flood of torture-related abuse lawsuits

Members of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, protest outside a cathedral in this photo dated 2010. The Centre for Constitutional Rights, on behalf of SNAP, said that victims may look at fresh litigation since torture was not bound by the statute of limitations in many of the 155 countries that have endorsed or ratified the UN Convention against Torture, including the United States.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican could face a wave of new sexual abuse claims dating back decades if a United Nations inquiry finds that the Roman Catholic Church has violated an international treaty against torture and inhuman treatment.

Published in International
May 1, 2014

Don’t equate sexual abuse of minors with torture, Vatican tells UN

Members of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP hold portraits of themselves as youths as they address the media during a protest outside St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland in this picture dated Sept. 15 2010. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which represents 18,000 victims, said that hundreds of children and adults were still being “sexually violated, tortured and assaulted” by Catholic priests.

VATICAN CITY - As Vatican representatives prepare to testify before a United Nations inquiry into torture next week, a senior official warned investigators that it would be “deceptive” to link torture with the pedophilia scandals that have swept the Catholic Church.

Published in Vatican