Catholic Church: Trial of lay leader highlights gaps in church’s sex abuse oversight
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports from Catania, Italy, on the trial of Piero Alfio Capuana, lay leader of the Catholic Culture and Environment Association…
Abuse in lockdowns: Amid pandemic, domestic and sexual abuse is skyrocketing. Activists worry that news is being buried
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports from Vatican City on concerns the battle against abuse of the vulnerable is losing momentum during the coronavirus pandemic…
Child rape charges refiled against Mexican megachurch leader
Los Angeles, USAP California on Wednesday charged the leader of a Mexican megachurch with child rape and human trafficking, months after a court dismissed the previous allegations because of prosecution errors. Naasón Joaquín García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, was charged with three dozen felony counts. Also charged were Susana Medina Oaxaca […]
World Vision Australia urges governments to put children at the centre of coronavirus-related decision-making
Governments around the world must ensure that children are at the centre of any moves to address coronavirus and its aftermath, according to Mercy Jumo, World Vision Australia’s senior policy advisor on child rights. In an interview with Sight, Jumo said evidence from a range of sources – including a World Vision report as well as reports […]
One year after Vatican abuse summit, survivors grade Pope Francis with ‘D minus’
Vatican CityRNS One year after Pope Francis called for a summit of Catholic bishops at the Vatican, abuse survivors flocked to the Eternal City on Thursday to report a lack of progress and accountability in the fight against clergy sex abuse. Three Argentine deaf abuse survivors of the notorious paedophile priest Nicola Corradi, who in […]
Australia moves closer to compulsory child abuse reporting by priests
Melbourne, AustraliaReuters Australia’s top attorneys agreed on Friday to standardise laws across the country forcing priests to report child abuse revealed to them during confessions in a move that could widen a schism between the church and the government. Federal and state attorneys-general agreed on key principles for the laws, which fall under the responsibility […]
Indian Nobel laureate wants global treaty to tackle online child abuse
Thomson Reuters Foundation Nobel peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi called on Friday for a United Nations convention on online child sex abuse and trafficking, saying an international law is the only way to end the global scourge. The Indian campaigner against child trafficking said he was gathering support from fellow laureates and religious leaders including Pope […]
Breaking – Australian PM delivers national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse
Last updated 12.20pmAustralia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has delivered a national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in the nation’s Federal Parliament. “Silenced voices. Muffled cries in the darkness. Unacknowledged tears. The tyranny of invisible suffering. The never-heard pleas of tortured souls bewildered by an indifference to the unthinkable theft of […]
Church has failed to protect children from abuse, says Archbishop of Canterbury
RNS Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told a national commission investigating child sex abuse in the UK that his church has not done enough to root out the problem. Archbishop Welby, the leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion – who himself has come under some criticism for his handling of abuse […]
Victoria and NSW first Australian states to commit to national redress scheme for child abuse victims
Victoria and New South Wales are the first Australian states to commit to a national redress scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced. The move comes in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and covers about 9,000 people who were abused in […]