Spain sets up fund for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy
Madrid, Spain Reuters Spain is to set up a fund, to be financed largely by the Catholic Church, to compensate an estimated 440,000 victims of decades of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, staff or teachers, the justice minister announced on Tuesday. A report in October by Spain’s human rights ombudsman produced the estimate from a […]
Ransom demands: In crime-stricken Haiti, Catholic priests and nuns are targeted as kidnap victims
Kidnappings by criminal gangs have continued to terrorise the country’s residents, not least Catholic priests and other missionaries. In 2024 alone, at least 14 priests and religious brothers and sisters were abducted. EDUARDO CAMPOS LIMA reports in an article first published by Religion News Service…
Pope meets with child protection board as events outside Vatican show abuse scandal isn’t going away
Rome, Italy AP Pope Francis sought to encourage his child protection board on Thursday to continue helping victims, as new developments outside the Vatican underscored that the Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal isn’t going away anytime soon. Francis met with his Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is expected to soon release the […]
More than 100 priests suspected of abuse remain active in Portugal’s Catholic Church
Lisbon, PortugalReuters More than 100 priests suspected of child sexual abuse remain active in church roles in Portugal, according to the head of a commission investigating the issue. The commission, which started its work in January 2022, said in its final report published on Monday that at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by members […]
Thousands of children abused by members of Portugal’s Catholic Church over 70 years – report
Lisbon, PortugalReuters At least 4,815 children were sexually abused by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church – mostly priests – over the past 70 years, a report by the commission investigating the issue said on Monday, adding the findings are the tip of the iceberg. “[We want] to pay a sincere tribute to those who […]
French Catholic leaders mired in sexual abuse scandals dig themselves deeper
Paris, FranceRNS Like any modern Catholic official, Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of France’s Catholic bishops’ conference, realizes clergy sexual abuse is a systemic problem, one that calls for serious reform of the church’s uncertain rules and ingrained secrecy. But recent revelations of sexual misconduct by a cardinal and a bishop on Moulins-Beaufort’s watch show […]
In the US, stricter clergy oversight part of Buffalo diocese settlement
Buffalo, New York, USAP The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has agreed to strengthen its oversight of clergy accused of sexual misconduct to settle a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general alleging the church mishandled abuse claims and protected predatory priests, authorities said this week. The settlement requires the diocese to have a formal program […]
Labour rights: As workers seek to unionise, some clergy are filling a crucial role
ALEJANDRA MOLINA, of Religion News Service, reports on the role clergy are playing in the US as intermediaries between labour unions and employers …
Portugal urges victims of clergy sexual abuse to break the silence
Lisbon, PortugalReuters A commission investigating allegations of historical child sexual abuse by members of the Portuguese Catholic church urged victims on Thursday to speak up and help them lift a veil of silence around the issue. “We want [victims] to report, finally and without fear, what happened to them,” the head of the newly-created commission, […]
In Spain, Catholic leaders put numbers to sex abuse claims
Madrid, SpainAP In a first public attempt to put numbers to instances of child sex abuse by the country’s Catholic clergy, Spain’s Episcopal Conference revealed Friday that 220 cases were officially reported to the Vatican over the past two decades. The conference, which is the top governing body of Spain’s Catholic Church, said Spanish bishops […]