Tens of thousands rally against Hungary’s Orban after sex abuse pardon scandal
Budapest, Hungary Reuters Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Friday at the biggest rally against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for years, after a sex-abuse case pardon by President Katalin Novak caused public uproar and led to her resignation. Conservative Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has sought to defuse […]
Spain’s report on Catholic Church sex abuse estimates victims could number in hundreds of thousands
Madrid, Spain AP Spain’s first official probe of sex abuse by clergy members or other people connected to the Catholic Church in the country included a survey that indicated that the number of victims could run into hundreds of thousands. The survey was part of a damning report by the office of Spain’s ombudsman, or “defensor del pueblo,” […]
Who will pay for the SBC’s abuse reforms over the long term? No-one knows
United StatesRNS After years of delay, Southern Baptists passed a series of reforms in 2022 aimed at addressing abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Those reforms included setting up a “Ministry Check” database to track abusive pastors and training churches on how to prevent abuse and to care for abuse survivors. The plan for […]
Papal interview: Pope Francis discusses his health, his critics and future of papacy
NICOLE WINFIELD, of The Associated Press, speaks with Pope Francis in a wide-ranging interview which also covered gun violence, relations with China and homosexuality…
US report: Catholic clergy’s unquestioned – and uneducated – power spurs abuse
United StatesRNS A new report based on interviews with some 300 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople concludes that clergy aren’t adequately prepared to wield the power they exercise and need more education on questions of sex and gender. The report, Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change, released […]
Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of abusers
United StatesAP Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to […]
Vatican clears aide to John Paul II of negligence claims
Rome, ItalyAP A Vatican investigation into allegations that the former top aide to St John Paul II was negligent in handling sex abuse claims in his native Poland has cleared him of wrongdoing, the Vatican’s embassy in Poland said Friday. A statement from the embassy, or nunciature, said the investigation conducted by a Holy See […]
Anglican Church of Canada blunders stoke calls for general secretary to resign
RNS Survivors of abuse and anti-abuse advocates in the Anglican Church of Canada are calling for the denomination’s general secretary to resign, saying he and other ACC leaders have continued to bungle their response to the leak of a draft of an article on sexual misconduct written for the denomination’s paper. “The ACC absolutely has […]
In the US, hundreds sign petition asking ACNA for “survivor-centric” abuse investigation
RNS More than 350 people have signed a petition calling the Anglican Church in North America to honour abuse survivors’ wishes regarding an investigation into the handling of abuse allegations. The petition, published on Thursday by the abuse prevention advocacy group #ACNAtoo, asks that ACNA hire an investigative firm that will “search for and publish […]
Catholic Church in Spain faces major abuse investigation – El Pais newspaper
Madrid, SpainReuters Spain’s Catholic Church is to open an investigation into alleged sex abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy dating back 80 years that the newspaper El Pais has uncovered, the daily said on Sunday. The investigation will look into allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some lay people from […]