Tag Archives: Catholic Church

FRANCE: Catholic Cardinal Quits In Molestation Coverup

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of a French cardinal who was convicted and then acquitted of covering up for a pedophile priest in a case that fueled a reckoning over clergy sexual abuse in France. Lyon Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 69, had offered to resign when the Lyon court in March 2019 first convicted him …

Read More »

Buffalo Diocese Bankrupt Amid Hundreds Of Lawsuits

The Buffalo News reports: The Buffalo Diocese, awash with lawsuits alleging child sex abuse by priests, nuns and others, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, marking another chapter in a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Western New York since early 2018. The Buffalo Diocese already is named as a defendant in 260 cases, more than …

Read More »

SCOTUS To Hear Case On Same-Sex Foster Parenting

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a dispute over a Philadelphia Catholic agency that won’t place foster children with same-sex couples. The justices will review an appeals court ruling that upheld the city’s decision to stop placing children with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s agency because it would not permit same-sex couples to serve as …

Read More »

PA Diocese Declares Bankruptcy Amid Abuse Lawsuits

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: The Diocese of Harrisburg filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, becoming the first of Pennsylvania’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses to seek protection from financial claims in the aftermath of a scathing 2018 grand jury report that revealed decades of sexual abuse and cover-up by the church’s top leaders. In its petition with the bankruptcy court, the diocese reported …

Read More »

Catholic Priest Denies Communion To Pro-Choice State Lawmakers: At Least “Pedophilia Doesn’t Kill Anyone”

The Washington Post reports: A Rhode Island priest is doubling down on his recent call to deny Communion to lawmakers who voted in favor of an abortion rights bill. After the Rev. Richard Bucci of Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, R.I., drew a backlash with his initial announcement two weeks ago, the 72-year-old priest dug in, telling Rhode Island’s …

Read More »

Vatican Sends 600,000+ Face Masks To China

The Catholic News Service reports: In an email to Catholic News Service Feb. 3, the Vatican press office confirmed a report that appeared in the Chinese newspaper The Global Times, which said that since Jan. 27, the Vatican has sent 600,000-700,000 protective masks to China. “The masks are destined to the provinces of Hubei, Zhejiang and Fujian,” the press office …

Read More »

German Bishops Declare Homosexuality Is “Normal”

The Catholic News Service reports: Following consultations in Berlin last week, the chairman of the Marriage and Family Commission of the German bishops’ conference declared that the bishops agreed that homosexuality is a “normal form” of human sexual identity. “The sexual preference of man expresses itself in puberty and assumes a hetero or homosexual orientation,” Berlin’s Archbishop Heiner Koch [photo] …

Read More »

Priest Jailed For Binding Teen Boy In Plastic Wrap And Locking Him In Closet, Must Register As Sex Offender

Grand Rapids’ NBC News affiliate reports: A priest who admitted to holding a teen captive in a church janitor’s closet is headed to jail. In an Allegan courtroom Monday morning, Brian Stanley was sentenced to 60 days in jail with credit for two days served. He will also serve five years probation and must register as a sex offender for …

Read More »

NEW ORLEANS: NFL Team Accused of Helping Catholic Archdiocese Do Damage Control On Pedophilia Suits

The Associated Press reports: The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis. Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church say in …

Read More »

Pope Replaces Right Wing Anti-Gay Philly Archbishop

The New York Times reports: Pope Francis sought to shift the ideological balance of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States on Thursday, replacing one of his most prominent conservative critics as the archbishop of Philadelphia. Pope Francis announced in a statement that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia was retiring, and that Bishop Nelson J. Perez of Cleveland, …

Read More »

Catholic Bishops Blast GOP Texas Gov On Refugees

CNN reports: All 16 of Texas’ Catholic bishops have issued a joint statement slamming Gov. Greg Abbott, who is Catholic, for announcing the state will bar refugees in 2020. The bishops call Abbott’s decision “misguided” and say it “denies people who are fleeing persecution, including religious persecution, from being able to bring their gifts and talents to our state and …

Read More »

Catholic Church Upset Over HBO’s Dancing Nuns

Yahoo News reports: A scene in The New Pope, an HBO mini-series starring Jude Law and John Malkovich, in which sexy young nuns dance in their nighties beneath a giant fluorescent crucifix, has incurred the wrath of the Catholic Church. The provocative scene, which was filmed in a former monastery in Venice, was denounced as “offensive” by the archbishop of …

Read More »

Ex-Pope Benedict Disavows Book On Priestly Celibacy

Agence France-Presse reports: Retired former pope Benedict XVI sought to calm a dispute within the Vatican on Tuesday, claiming his name was erroneously attributed as co-author to a new book with a conservative cardinal. Publication of extracts from the book, “The Depth of our Hearts,” by French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday set off a storm within the Vatican, with …

Read More »

Former Pope Benedict Defends Celibacy For Priests

Reuters reports: Former Pope Benedict, in a new book written with a conservative cardinal, defends priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church in what appears to be a strategically timed appeal to Pope Francis to not change the rules. Excerpts were published on Sunday on the website of the French newspaper Le Figaro. The Vatican had no immediate comment on the …

Read More »

Pope Sorry For Smacking Woman’s Hand [VIDEO]

“We often lose patience. So do I. And I apologize for yesterday’s bad example. Every form of violence inflicted upon a woman is a blasphemy against God, who was born of a woman. Humanity’s salvation came forth from the body of a woman: we can understand our degree of humanity by how we treat a woman’s body.” – Pope Francis, …

Read More »

Angry Pope Francis Swats At Grasping Woman [VIDEO]

Reuters reports: A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St Peter’s Square on Tuesday after she grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. After reaching out to touch a child, the pope turned away from the crowd only for a nearby woman to seize his hand and pull her …

Read More »

Hundreds Of Accused Priests Left Off Church Lists

The Associated Press reports: Richard J. Poster served time for possessing child pornography, violated his probation by having contact with children, admitted masturbating in the bushes near a church school and in 2005 was put on a sex offender registry. And yet the former Catholic priest was only just this month added to a list of clergy members credibly accused …

Read More »

FRANCE: Teenage Boy Kills Alleged Pedophile Catholic Priest By Shoving Crucifix Down His Abuser’s Throat

Catholic news site The Tablet reports: Fr Roger Matassoli, 91, was found dead on 4 November at his home near Beauvais, choked by a crucifix stuffed down his throat. There were also multiple blows to his body. A 19-year-old suspect named Alexandre was soon arrested but has been held in hospital because he appeared delirious. A month later, the suspect’s …

Read More »

Ousted Cardinal Gave Big Money To Top Church Officials

The Washington Post reports: Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money to powerful Catholic clerics over nearly two decades, according to financial records obtained by The Washington Post, while the Vatican failed to act on claims he had sexually harassed young men. Starting in 2001, McCarrick sent checks totaling more than $600,000 to clerics …

Read More »

Pennsylvania Dioceses Pay $84M To 564 Abuse Victims

The Associated Press reports: Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses have paid nearly $84 million to 564 victims of sexual abuse, a tally that’s sure to grow substantially in the new year as compensation fund administrators work through a backlog of claims, according to an Associated Press review. To date, the average payout across all seven dioceses has exceeded $148,000 — a …

Read More »