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by Peter HUTCHISON Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of sexual assault and rape but cleared of the most serious predatory sexual assault charges, a verdict hailed as a historic victory by the #MeToo Movement against sexual abuse. The jury of seven men and five women, delivering their decision before a packed New York courtroom, found the once powerful Hollywood producer guilty of criminal sexual acts […]
CANBERRA, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Catholic Cardinal George Pell was handed a final chance to clear his name Wednesday, when Australia’s top court agreed to allow his appeal against convictions for child abuse. The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is currently serving a six-year jail sentence for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s, but continues to deny any wrongdoing. Justice Michelle Gordon — in a statement that took less than […]
Catholic Church’s Pope Francis officially accepted on Thursday the resignation of New York’s Bishop John Jenik, who has been accused of sexually abusing a teenager. Jenik was suspended in 2018 pending a Church investigation into the alleged assault, which reportedly took place in the 1980s while the American was pastor of a Bronx parish. “Although the alleged incidents occurred decades ago, the Lay Review Board has concluded that the evidence is sufficient to find […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A commission set up by the French Catholic Church to investigate allegations of child sex abuse by clerics received about 2,000 messages in its first three months, chairman Jean-Marc Sauve said Friday. The independent body, looking into abuse claims dating back to the 1950s, was set up last year in response to a number of scandals that shook the Church in France and worldwide. Composed of 22 legal professionals, doctors, […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Cardinal George Pell lodged an appeal against his child sex abuse convictions in Australia’s High Court on Tuesday, an official in Canberra said. It is the final avenue of appeal for the 78-year-old — who is serving a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s — to get out of jail and clear his name. The former Vatican treasurer who once helped elect popes, last month […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into sexual abuse in US Olympic sports, becoming the latest federal agency to probe failures in the country’s Olympic organizations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The investigations, which focus mainly on USA gymnastics, stems from the Larry Nassar scandal. Nassar, the longtime USA gymnastics doctor, has been accused of abuse by more than 350 girls and young women, including […]
by Holly ROBERTSON Agence France Presse MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Cardinal George Pell lost his appeal against child sex abuse convictions Wednesday, prompting relief from victims who fought to bring one of the Catholic Church’s most powerful men to justice. A former Vatican treasurer, Pell had been trying to overturn the verdicts and six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s. The high-profile case pitted 78-year-old […]
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 […]
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — When Cardinal Daniel DiNardo first met Laura Pontikes in his wood-paneled conference room in December 2016, the leader of the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to its sex abuse scandal said all the right things. He praised her for coming forward to report that his deputy in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese had manipulated her into a sexual relationship and declared her a “victim” of the priest, Pontikes said. […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — An independent commission set up by the French Catholic Church to look at allegations of sexual abuse by clerics begins its work on Monday by launching an appeal for witness statements. France’s Catholic bishops set up the commission last year in response to a number of scandals that shook the Church in the country and also worldwide. It now has the task to shed light on sexual abuse committed by […]
by Ella IDE Agence France Presse VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Catholic Church’s Pope Francis on Thursday passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light. Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Pope Francis said a process of “healing” had started within the Catholic Church in the wake of a pedophilia summit, but acknowledged guilty priests had not been punished. The Argentine pontiff last week issued stringent child abuse legislation for Vatican City employees as part of the Church’s bid to address a wave of sex abuse allegations against priests. In an interview broadcast on Sunday with Spanish TV channel La Sexta, […]
