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MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Born in 1941, Cardinal George Pell grew up in rural Australia and, inspired by his devout Catholic mother, chose a career in the church. His star rose fast, and in 2003 he was named to the Vatican’s powerful College of Cardinals — a position that allowed him to vote in the conclaves that elect popes. At home, he was an outspoken conservative who former prime minister Tony Abbott described as […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Cardinal George Pell was ordered held in custody Wednesday following his historic conviction for child sex crimes, capping an extraordinary fall from grace for one of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church. Prosecutors told a pre-sentencing hearing that Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted for child sex abuse, faces a maximum 50 years in prison for five charges of sexual assault against two choirboys at Melbourne’s […]
By Agence France-Presse MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Angry protesters called Cardinal George Pell a “maggot” and a “monster” Wednesday as he arrived in court, possibly for the last time as a free man, in a last-ditch push for bail while he appeals his historic conviction for child sex crimes. Once one of Pope Francis’ closest advisors, Pell is facing up to 25 years in prison for five charges of sexual and indecent assault on […]
by Ella Ide Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Catholic Church’s Pope Francis on Sunday vowed to tackle every single case of sexual abuse by priests, comparing paedophilia to “human sacrifice”, but drew an angry response from victims. As the pope promised an “all-out battle” against abusive priests at the end of the landmark Vatican summit on the issue, his critics dismissed his speech as a “stunning letdown”. And when he blamed the […]
A leading cardinal has acknowledged the global scale of the child sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church amid the refusal by some bishops — notably in Asia and Africa — to admit clerical paedophilia was an issue in their countries. Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias told the extraordinary summit, on Friday, on the second day of a landmark summit at the Vatican on tackling paedophilia in the clergy, that the refusal by some […]
A top Catholic cardinal admitted Saturday that Catholic church files on priests accused of sexually abusing children were destroyed or never even drawn up in a move which allowed paedophiles to prey on others. “Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created,” German Cardinal Reinhard Marx told a landmark Vatican summit on tackling paedophilia within the clergy. “Instead of the perpetrators, the victims were regulated […]
French director François Ozon’s “By the Grace of God,” about the real-life story of a priest accused of sexually abusing boy scouts, hits Paris cinemas, a day after its controversial release was approved by the courts. Moviegoers who saw the film reacted to the controversial movie that touches on a subject that has stirred wounds of sex abuse victims of the Catholic clergy, and also created awareness about the issue. Marcel Benbassat, one of those […]
WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — A senior nun has spoken out for the first time about priests sexually abusing nuns in staunchly Catholic Poland following an an unprecedented public admission by Pope Francis. Mother Superior Joanna Olech was speaking after the pontiff earlier this month admitted that priest have used nuns as “sexual slaves” — and may still be doing so. “The problem of sexual abuse committed by priests against nuns has also existed in […]
VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Two cardinals criticized on Wednesday Pope Francis’s approach to the clerical paedophilia crisis, saying “abuse of power” was not to blame but homosexuality. “We turn to you with deep distress! The Catholic world is adrift,” US Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke and German Cardinal Walter Brandmueller said in an open letter to the heads of the bishops’ conferences. “Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest […]
by Lucie Peytermann Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A US-based group that compiles data on sexual abuse by Catholic clerics and bishops accused of covering it up fears that a bid by Pope Francis to tackle the scandals is a case of too little, too late. Speaking ahead of a Vatican summit of bishops this week to discuss the crisis, Anne Barret Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, complained of a “disconnect” between the […]
French prosecutors said Friday they were investigating a sexual assault complaint made against the Vatican’s envoy to Paris in more unwelcome news for the Catholic church as it looks to turn the page on years of scandal. The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has vowed that the church will no longer ignore abuse allegations, and he removed two prominent cardinals from his inner circle late last year after they were tainted by paedophile scandals. The […]
By Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the church over accusations American Theodore McCarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday. McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse. He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court […]
