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by Clement Melki and Amel Semmache Agence France Presse Pope Francis on Monday apologized for the “evil” inflicted on the Indigenous peoples of Canada on the first day of a visit focused on addressing decades of abuse at Catholic-run residential schools. The plea for forgiveness from the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics was met with applause by a crowd of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people in Maskwacis, in western Alberta province […]
At least 600 young people were documented as having been abused by Catholic priests in the German diocese of Muenster, but the actual number of victims could be 10 times higher, a report published Monday said. The diocese has official records on 610 abuse victims, according to the report by the University of Muenster — around a third more than indicated by a previous study from 2018. However, historian Natalie Powroznik, who was involved in […]
LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) — Gunmen who attacked a Catholic church on Sunday with explosives in southwest Nigeria killed at least 21 worshippers, including some children, local officials said. The violence in St Francis Catholic Church in Owo town during a Sunday service prompted international condemnation after a rare attack in Nigeria’s usually safer southwestern region. Richard Olatunde, spokesman for the Ondo State governor’s office, told AFP that dynamite exploded inside the church before gunmen […]
by Clément MELKI Agence France Presse ROME, Italy (AFP) — The new head of Italy’s Catholic Church announced Friday a study into clerical child sex abuse over the last 20 years, but survivors said it fell short of an independent inquiry. Pope Francis had called for a transparent annual audit of efforts to protect minors, as he seeks to restore trust in the Catholic Church following a global scandal. “It’s our duty, faced with so […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the United States’ largest Protestant denomination, published a 205-page list on Thursday of ministers and other church workers who have been accused of sexual abuse. The public release of the list comes days after an independent investigation said the church had for years suppressed reports of sexual abuse against priests and church staff. “This list is being made public for the first […]
LAGUNA WOODS, United States (AFP)– One person was dead and four others in critical condition after a shooting at a church near Los Angeles, law enforcement said Sunday, just one day after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in New York state. Shortly before 1.30 pm (2030 GMT), parishioners were attending a banquet following a morning service at Geneva Presbyterian Church when the gunman began his rampage, authorities said. There were […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A diocese in New Jersey has agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle hundreds of sexual abuse claims, one of the largest settlements involving the Catholic Church in the United States. The agreement between the diocese of Camden, near Philadelphia, and 300 victims regarding abuse committed by priests in the 1970s and 1980s was announced on Tuesday. The payout is larger than the nearly $85 million settlement in […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – A US association for victims of sexual abuse denounced Monday a former bishop in New York state who admitted to having ignored multiple sexual assaults on children committed by 11 priests over 25 years. In April 2021, Howard Hubbard, an ex-bishop in the city of Albany, testified under oath over four days before the state’s Supreme Court and acknowledged that from 1977 to 2002, he was informed of sexual […]
ORAN, Argentina (AFP) — A retired Argentine bishop seen as close to Catholic Church’s Pope Francis was sentenced on Friday to four and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two seminarians. A court in the northwestern town of Oran, where Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta was bishop from 2013 to 2017, ordered his immediate detention. The 57-year-old Zanchetta, who had traveled from the Vatican for the trial, was convicted of “simple, continued and aggravated […]
by Alice RITCHIE / Ella IDE Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Ex-pope Benedict XVI asked for forgiveness Tuesday for clerical child sex abuse committed on his watch, but aides rejected allegations of a cover-up while he was archbishop of Munich. “I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness,” the 94-year-old said in a letter published by the […]
by Femke COLBORNE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A potentially explosive report into the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church will on Thursday be published in Germany, with former pope Benedict XVI among those in the spotlight. The report by law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) will analyse how abuse cases were dealt with in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising between 1945 and 2019. The Munich archdiocese, which […]
by Karine PERRET Agence France Presse LOURDES, France (AFP) — Catholic bishops in France agreed Monday to sell part of the Church’s extensive real estate holdings to compensate thousands of victims of child sex abuse at the hands of clergy. Church officials have been under intense pressure to recognise and indemnify victims after a landmark French inquiry confirmed extensive sexual abuse of minors by priests dating from the 1950s. An independent commission will evaluate […]
