AP Exclusive: Big jump in US Catholic dioceses naming names
Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found.
Pope: Bishops must be held accountable for abuse
Pope Francis begged forgiveness Monday in his first meeting with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy and went further than any of his predecessors by vowing to hold bishops accountable for their handling of pedophile priests.
Pope to meet sex abuse victims at Vatican
Pope Francis announced Monday he would meet soon with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican and declared “zero tolerance” for any member of the clergy who would violate a child.
UN panel slams Vatican on priest sex-abuse scandal
In a report that could expose the Catholic Church to new legal arguments by clerical sex abuse victims, a U.N. committee found Friday that the Vatican does exercise worldwide control over its bishops and priests and must comply with the U.N.’s anti-torture treaty.
Vatican: 848 priests defrocked since ’04
The Vatican revealed Tuesday that over the past decade, it has defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004.
‘Who am I to judge?’ pope says of gay priests
ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT — A remarkably candid Pope Francis struck a conciliatory stance toward gays Monday, saying “who am I to judge” when it
Records: Archbishop paid some problem priests to leave
MILWAUKEE — The archbishop of Milwaukee wrote a letter in 2003 to the Vatican office overseeing clergy sex abuse cases begging it to remove a
Adele Elliott: Good ’ol boys
Once upon a time, I was a Catholic. The churches were beautiful then. They were cool and dark, filled with flickering candles, the aromas of incense and burning wax, and life-sized statues of saints. I loved those statues, and, in the spring, placed small bouquets of pink roses at their plaster feet.