The Church’s Melbourne Response for helping abuse survivors discouraged victims from contacting police, a royal commission case study has found. Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse issued a case study this week into the programme instituted by then-Archbishop George Pell in 1996. The study identified 12 systemic issues. One issue was Read more
There was no homily at the Vatican funeral for former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski as a gesture of respect for his victims. Wesolowski, a former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, died last week while awaiting trial at the Vatican on charges of child sex abuse and possessing child pornography. He did not appear at the Read more
A former papal ambassador awaiting a Vatican trial for abuse of minors and possessing child pornography has died after a suspected heart attack. Former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 67, was found dead “during the first hours of the morning”, the Vatican said in a statement on August 28. He was reportedly found in a room with the television Read more
An Australian court has heard about the Crown’s attempts to establish a pattern of behaviour by a Catholic brother extradited from New Zealand. Bernard Kevin McGrath, 68, is facing 252 child sex charges relating to 35 victims, dating back to the 1970s. McGrath appeared by video link in the Newcastle Local Court last week. Hundreds Read more
A retired bishop has said Cardinal George Pell destroyed the unity of the Australian Church’s response to child sex abuse. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson said this during testimony to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Monday. Bishop Robinson worked with other bishops on an Australia-wide clergy response to abuse, Read more
A landmark report into safeguarding has condemned a culture of secrecy and cover-up in the Scottish Catholic Church. The 99-page McLellan Commission Report, published this week, described abuse as “the greatest challenge facing the whole Catholic Church in Scotland”. The commission was led by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Read more
A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors says the slow progress in some of its work is because of Vatican culture. Abuse survivor Marie Collins told the Irish Times that the commission has made good progress in some areas, but in others, progress has been “very slow”. “My expectation was that Read more
Abuse survivors from Ballarat are outraged that Cardinal George Pell will appear before a royal commission in Melbourne, not in their city. Cardinal Pell had been due to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at the second stage of the Ballarat hearings in November. However, last week the Read more
A new movie about a media investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church in Boston is said to be “gunning for [an] Oscar [award]”. The first trailer for the drama “Spotlight”, directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy, has been released. The movie, distributed by Open Road Films, tells the true story behind the Boston Read more
One of the most severe critics of the Church’s handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal has briefed members of a pontifical commission. Fr Thomas Doyle, OP, met four members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors last month. The priest emphasised two main points: The need for real accountability on the part Read more