Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has defrocked two Chilean bishops for the alleged sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said in a statement on Saturday after a meeting between the pontiff and the president of Chile. The decision to expel former archbishop Francisco Jose Cox Huneeus and former bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez — the latest heads to roll in a country hit hard by the cleric abuse scandal — could not be appealed, it […]
Tag: Vatican
US Cardinal Donald Wuerl, accused over abuse cover-up, resigns
Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of US Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who was blamed for not doing enough to deal with paedophile priests when he was a bishop in Pennsylvania, the Vatican said Friday. Wuerl, who has stepped down as archbishop of Washington, had announced last month that he planned to meet with the Catholic pope to discuss his resignation. A sweeping US grand jury report released in August revealed credible allegations […]
Abuse victim sues Vatican in bid to identify predators
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A US man who says he was raped by a priest as a child announced Thursday he was suing the Vatican seeking the identification of accused clergy members worldwide. Over recent months, the Catholic Church has been gripped by a global sexual abuse scandal — particularly in Australia, Chile and the US — with allegations that cases were covered up by top church officials. “I’m seeking the truth […]
Record $27.5 million settlement in NY Catholic child sex abuse case
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The Catholic church in New York has reached a record $27.5 million settlement with four men who said they were sexually abused as children, attorneys said Tuesday. The Diocese of Brooklyn, one of the city’s boroughs, agreed to make the payments to the four, who were sexually abused between 2003 and 2009 by their religion teacher, their lawyers said. The sum breaks down to $6.87 million for each […]
Catholic Church’s Pope to meet US Church leaders after abuse cover-up claim
Catholic Church’s Pope Francis will meet leaders of the US Catholic Church on Thursday, the Vatican announced, after a high profile accusation that the pontiff covered up sexual abuse allegations against an American cardinal. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, will attend the meeting after saying last month he was eager to meet the pope following the scandal. Two other conference officials will be at the meeting, as […]
US groups representing victims of clergy abuse press US justice dep’t to conduct probe of cover-up
https://youtu.be/LqFIVfPvTBU United States groups representing survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests called Thursday on the Vatican to publish a list of clerics accused of sexual assault, even as they pressed the US Department of Justice to “do something about this.” The calls came after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican envoy to Washington, dropped an 11-page bombshell letter on Saturday accusing Pope Francis of ignoring sexual abuse allegations against prominent US […]
US cardinals defend themselves over cover-up storm
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US cardinals defended themselves Monday against accusations of a Catholic Church cover-up on sex abuse detailed by a conservative bishop who has called on Pope Francis to resign. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, a progressive, expressed “shock, sadness and consternation” at the wide-ranging allegations, which he said “cannot be understood as contributing to the healing of survivors of sexual abuse.” “Together with Pope Francis, we are confident that scrutiny […]
Catholic Pope ‘begs for God’s forgiveness’ for sexual abuse scandal
by Joseph Stenson and Catherine Marciano Agence France Presse KNOCK, Ireland (AFP) — Pope Francis in Ireland Sunday “begged for God’s forgiveness” for the child sexual abuse scandal rocking the church but faced accusations by a former Vatican official that he had personally ignored allegations against senior clergy. Francis is due to speak in front of some 500,000 faithful in Dublin’s Phoenix Park as part of his two-day visit to the former Catholic stronghold […]
Former Vatican envoy to US testifies against Catholic Pope Francis, urges his resignation
(Eagle News) — A former top Vatican official and former papal envoy to Washington called for the resignation of the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis saying he did not immediately act when he informed him of sexual abuses committed by a former Catholic cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, way back June 2013. This revelation and call for the Catholic pontiff’s resignation came from Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò who claimed in an 11-page letter-testimony that Francis even […]
Catholic Church’s Pope Francis faces calls for action over abuse, ‘shame’ in Ireland
by Joseph Stenson and Catherine Marciano Agence France Presse DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) — The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis expressed “pain and shame” over the Church’s failure to deal with abuse and met with eight victims during a visit to Ireland on Saturday where the prime minister pressed him to take action. Francis said the “failure of ecclesiastical authorities… adequately to address these repellent crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source […]
Abuse scandals loom over pope’s landmark Ireland visit
by Joseph Stenson in Ireland with Joe Jackson in London Agence France Presse The Catholic Church’s Pope Francis faces calls to take tougher action against abuse as he visits Ireland this weekend — a country where multiple scandals have badly damaged the image of the church. The pontiff arrives on Saturday for his first visit to this former bastion of Catholicism, which was last visited by a pope in 1979 when Pope John Paul […]
Litany of Catholic abuse scandals in Ireland
by Joe Jackson Agence France Presse Accusations of wide-ranging abuse in Catholic institutions in Ireland, including but not limited to the sexual targeting of children by priests, date back several decades. In a sign of the scale of the issue, 14,500 people applied for compensation through an Irish government scheme for those abused at juvenile facilities run by religious groups between 1936 and 1970. As Pope Francis prepares to meet some victims during his weekend […]





