Survivors of clergy sex abuse have called for the resignation of Ireland’s Cardinal Sean Brady following further disclosure of his role in a cover-up. Brendan Boland’s memoir “Sworn to Secrecy” reproduces for the first time an oath of secrecy that he signed and that the then Fr Brady co-signed in the 1970s. When he was Read more
An American Catholic priest removed from ministry in Guam over historic sex abuse allegations in California has left the Pacific territory. Fr John Howard Wadeson left Guam last week saying he had been falsely accused. The priest said he decided to leave because he didn’t want false accusations against him to tarnish Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Read more
There is a riddle among priests that I have heard on every continent I have ever visited (all but Antarctica). The question is: “What are the three things God doesn’t know?” The third of the answers is: “What will the Jesuits be up to next?” Certainly much of the world is curious to know what Read more
Questions are being raised over payments to some Australian abuse victims after a religious order sought how to keep information from an insurer. Catholic Church insurer CCI won’t say whether it will try to recover A$9million of payments to abuse victims on behalf of the Marist Brothers. The payments were made to victims of two brothers, Read more
The Vatican is disputing the accuracy of comments attributed to Pope Francis on priestly celibacy and the extent of paedophilia in the clergy. On July 13, Rome daily La Repubblica ran an article by its former editor Eugenio Scalfari, based on an interview he did with the Pope on July 10. The Pope reportedly described Read more
It’s been a big week for the clergy and their dealings with the police across the world. In legal matters in countries covering four continents – India, the Dominican Republic, Italy and Australia – clerics are being held to account by police and civil courts: Two priests in India have been charged with murdering the Read more
A former papal ambassador accused of paying for sex with minors has been dismissed from the clerical state. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made the order against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic. The order against Polish-born Wesołowski is thought to be the first such move taken against a Read more
Seattle Archdiocese has agreed to pay $US12.1 million to settle 30 sex abuse claims from former students of schools that were run by the Christian Brothers. One school is still operated by the archdiocese with involvement by the brothers; the other closed in the late 1960s. The most recent cases are nearly 30 years old Read more
In the 1990s, a Vatican congregation consistently discouraged bishops from acting against priests accused of child abuse, an Australian archbishop says. Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide was giving evidence at Sydney hearings by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Archbishop Wilson said the Congregation for Clergy had a history of hindering Read more
A Caribbean bishop was shocked to see a former papal nuncio under investigation for alleged child abuse walking freely around Rome. Bishop Victor Masalles, an auxiliary of the Santo Domingo archdiocese in the Dominican Republic said that he recently saw Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski “walking along the Via della Scrofa”. Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic say Read more