Sex-abuse and other scandals that trouble the Catholic Church could have been avoided if women had been in positions of power, according to the woman who edits a new supplement in the Vatican newspaper. Journalist-historian Lucetta Scaraffia is campaigning for women’s rights in the male-dominated Vatican and pushing for women to teach in seminaries to Read more
About half of the world’s episcopal conferences have implemented guidelines for handling sex-abuse cases, according to a Vatican official. Monsignor Charles Scicluna said bishops’ conferences in Africa have lagged behind — because they face other urgent problems — but guidelines have been submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from most other Read more
Monsignor William Lynn was convicted for child endangerment on June 22. For the Catholic Church in the US this conviction shows that “that the courts will not afford clergymen a version of the Nazi’s Nuremburg defense that they “were only following orders”,” according to Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, writing in the Washington Post. According to Stevens-Arroyo, “The big loser Read more
After 11 days of deliberation the jury is hung in all but one of the counts in the Philadelphia Diocese landmark sexual abuse trial. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports jurors sent a note to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina shortly before noon, Wednesday, saying the panel of seven men and five women had reached “a hung jury status” for four of the Read more
Pope Benedict XVI told Irish Catholics on Sunday it is a mystery why priests and other church officials abused children entrusted in their care, undermining faith in the church “in an appalling way.” By describing the decades of child abuse in Catholic parishes, schools and church-run institutions and parishes in Ireland as a “mystery,” the Read more
Ireland’s Cardinal Sean Brady Friday asked God for forgiveness for the times when “we as individuals and as a church” failed to seek out and care for children suffering abuse. In an open-air Mass in heavy rain at the International Eucharistic Congress, Brady said it was a matter of deep shame that the needs of Read more
An envoy for Pope Benedict has apologized in person to child victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, a gesture that highlights the Vatican’s concerns over its deteriorating status in Ireland. Senior Vatican Cardinal Marc Ouellet travelled to the island of Lough Derg, in a remote corner of Ireland, on Tuesday to speak with Read more
The International Eucharistic Congress opened in Ireland on Sunday, with the Archbishop of Dublin, mindful of the scandal which is rocking the previous bastion of Catholicism. Martin was mixed in his remarks. He spoke with deep regret and sorrow for the past but held out hope for the future, saying the Church is on the Read more
“Groundless and scurrilous” is how Cardinal Timothy Dolan described reports that he approved payments to priests facing sex abuse charges while he was archbishop of Milwaukee. Cornered by reporters at St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, after Mass on Sunday, Dolan accused the NY Times of inaccurate reporting. Dolan was also of the view that the Read more
Two priests, one convicted of sexual abuse, and another charged with 30 sex offences were, in the 1990s, allowed to continue ministering in the Melbourne archdiocese. The discovery, reported in The Age, is the result of confidential documents obtained by the paper. The Age reports that the documents show how senior church leaders continued to Read more