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MASKWACIS, Canada (AFP) — Some seemed far away, others wept or applauded: a great wave of emotion swept through the crowd on Monday in western Canada’s Maskwacis when the pope himself begged forgiveness for the “evil” done to Indigenous people. One way or another, they had all been affected by the decades of abuse against children in schools run by the Catholic Church, part of a system seeking to stamp out the Indigenous identity […]
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 […]
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 […]
Canadian PM says he had spoken directly with Catholic Church’s Pope Francis, seeking an apology for the abuse by Michel COMTE Agence France Presse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized Friday for “harmful government policies” and did not rule out a criminal probe after hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at a former indigenous residential school in western Canada. The public mea culpa for the policy of indigenous assimilation and other historical wrongs comes one […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Pope Francis’s former envoy to France, Luigi Ventura, goes on trial in Paris on Tuesday for sexual assault following complaints by five men who accused him of groping them during public ceremonies. The allegations against the 75-year-old Italian-born archbishop caused deep embarrassment for the Vatican, coming in the midst of a slew of revelations about clerical sex abuse that have rocked the Catholic Church. Ventura was stripped of his diplomatic […]
VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Catholic Church’s Pope Francis postponed his official appointments Friday and was working from home, the Vatican said, a day after cancelling a scheduled appearance at mass because of “a mild ailment”. Francis, 83, had appeared earlier in the week to be suffering from a cold. He was seen blowing his nose and coughing during the Ash Wednesday service, and his voice sounded hoarse. He celebrated morning mass as usual and […]
Buildings shook as far away as Bangkok after a shallow 6.1-magnitude earthquake that hit northwestern Laos near the Thai border early Thursday, alarming locals who felt the shaking. Tremors could be felt more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) away in the Thai capital, where Catholic Church’s Pope Francis is currently on a four-day visit. The quake hit at 6:50am (2350 GMT Wednesday), roughly three hours after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in the same region triggered […]
by Catherine MARCIANO Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — An idea to fill empty pulpits in remote locations by allowing married men to become priests is bitterly dividing a Vatican assembly, with critics warning the emotive issue could fracture the Catholic Church. The hot-button topic of whether an exception can be made to the centuries-old custom of celibacy in places where there is a shortage of priests has dominated the start of the three-week […]
by Allison Jackson, with Valeria Pacheco in Puerto Maldonado, Peru Agence France Presse ITAITUBA, Brazil (AFP) — A shortage of Catholic priests in the Amazon is eroding the church’s influence in the remote region, bishops in Brazil and Peru warn, ahead of a Vatican synod dedicated to the rainforest. Wilmar Santin, one of scores of Brazilian bishops set to attend the October 6-27 gathering, says the church is ceding ground to more nimble Evangelical […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A bishop close to Pope Francis has been formally accused of sexually abusing seminarians, a public prosecutor’s office in Argentina said Friday. The prosecutor’s office in the Argentine province of Salta said prosecutor Mónica Viazzi accused Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of “aggravated continuous sexual abuse.” This is the first time that a prosecutor has formally accused Zanchetta in his native Argentina. Zanchetta resigned suddenly as bishop of the Argentine city […]
(Eagle News) – Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle admitted publicly in a world meeting of Catholic bishops on Thursday, February 21, in Vatican City on how priests had sexually abused children and minors, and stressed the need for all priests to “bring healing” to the wounds they had inflicted. Tagle was the first to give the formal talk in the meeting called by the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis to address the widespread abuse […]
by Catherine Marciano Agence France Presse The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis admitted Tuesday that priests and bishops had sexually abused nuns, the latest scandal to rock the church. “There are some priests and also bishops who have done it,” the pontiff said in response to a journalist’s question on the abuse of nuns, speaking on the return flight from his trip to the United Arab Emirates. The papal admission followed a rare outcry last […]
