Tag Archives: Vatican

From the Catholic site Crux Now: Pope Francis’s reported comment to a Chilean sexual abuse survivor, “That you are gay doesn’t matter,” has made major headlines in recent days – and on Tuesday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York affirmed Francis’s comments, saying “Jesus would have said that.” “Juan Carlos, that you are gay doesn’t matter,” Francis reportedly told clerical …

The Associated Press reports: An Australian archbishop on Tuesday became the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world convicted of covering up child sex abuse in a test case that holds to account church hierarchy that kept silent in the face of an international pedophile crisis. Magistrate Robert Stone handed down the verdict against Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson …

The Guardian reports: A survivor of clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him that God had made him gay and loved him, in arguably the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality to be uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic church. Juan Carlos Cruz, who spoke privately with the pope two weeks ago about the abuse he …

Reuters reports: In an unprecedented move, 34 Chilean bishops said on Friday they had offered to resign en masse after attending a crisis meeting this week with Pope Francis about the cover-up of sexual abuse in their country. It was not immediately clear if the pope would accept all or any of the resignations from the prelates, who hold all …

Just in from Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue: Brad Hoylman, a New York State Senator, has posted an anti-Catholic tweet that cannot go unchallenged. His colleagues should condemn his bigotry without delay. In addition, he should recuse himself from voting on any measure dealing with the sexual abuse of minors. The subject of Hoylman’s tweet is a new bill that …

The Philly Voice reports: A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie is charged with sexually assaulting two boys, including an altar boy whom the priest allegedly abused after Mass on Sundays and then made go to confession to describe the incidents, authorities said. Rev. David Poulson, 64, was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: George Pell will be the most senior Catholic leader to face a jury after being committed to stand trial on multiple historic sexual assault charges. In a decision that will ring loud through the Vatican and around the religious world, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the man who a year ago oversaw management of the …

The BBC reports: Police at the Vatican have arrested a priest who previously worked at the Holy See’s US embassy on suspicion of possessing child pornography. Carlo Alberto Capella was taken into custody after an investigation. Monsignor Capella was recalled from the US in September 2017 after US authorities told the Vatican about a possible violation of child pornography laws …

Flint’s ABC affiliate reports: Police were serving search warrants Thursday in connection with the investigation of Saginaw area priests. A contingent of law enforcement officials from multiple agencies raided Bishop Joseph Cistone’s residence, the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw offices and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Saginaw. Police obtained the three search warrants that were being executed as part of the investigation …

The BBC reports: Cardinal Keith O’Brien, formerly the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in Britain, has died at the age of 80. The cardinal, who resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 after apologising for sexual misconduct, was hurt in a recent fall. His successor administered the last rites on Friday, on the eve of the cardinal’s …

Earlier this month I reported that an Italian escort had delivered a 1200-page dossier to the Vatican which outs 40 gay priests as his clients. Unsurprisingly, the story continues to earn headlines in the Italian press. This week the escort speaks to our own Father Tony Adams, himself a retired Catholic priest, in an interview with South Florida Gay News. …

The Associated Press reports: The archdiocese of Naples says it has sent the Vatican a 1,200-page dossier compiled by a male escort identifying 40 actively gay priests and seminarians in Italy. In a statement on the diocesan website, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said none of the identified priests worked in Naples. But he said he decided to forward the file to …

NBC News reports: Fake news led to Adam and Eve’s original sin, Pope Francis said Wednesday. Disinformation and “manipulative use of social networks” can have “dire consequences” and the world must embark on a “profound and careful process of discernment,” he added in a speech marking World Communications Day. Fake news — a term popularized by President Donald Trump — …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis accused victims of Chile’s most notorious pedophile of slander Thursday, an astonishing end to a visit meant to help heal the wounds of a sex abuse scandal that has cost the Catholic Church its credibility in the country. Francis said that until he sees proof that Bishop Juan Barros was complicit in covering up …

Agence France-Presse reports: Callista Gingrich, wife of the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, today began her duties as the new US ambassador to the Vatican. Wearing a traditional black mantilla, she presented her credentials to Pope Francis at the Vatican before officially taking on her role. The appointment carries some controversy: she is the former speaker’s third wife, and had …

CBS News reports: Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston whose failures to stop child molesters in the priesthood sparked what would become the worst crisis in American Catholicism, has died, the Vatican confirmed on Tuesday. He was 86. Law had been sick and was recently hospitalized in Rome. The Vatican Press Office confirmed his death in a …

The Associated Press reports: The Republican-led Senate on Monday confirmed Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Senators approved her nomination, 70-23, with more than 20 Democrats joining Republicans in backing her for the post. Newt Gingrich is an ally of Trump, who had announced in May that he would nominate …

Catholic News Service reports: An arrest warrant has been issued in Canada for Monsignor Carlo Capella, the Vatican diplomat recalled from service in Washington in late August, who already was the subject of a Vatican criminal investigation involving child pornography. Police in Windsor, Ontario, issued a statement Sept. 28 saying, “A Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Carlo Capella, …

The Associated Press reports: A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican’s embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday. The diplomat was suspected of possessing, but not producing or disseminating, child pornography including images of pre-pubescent children, a …

The Associated Press reports: Callista Gingrich, Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the Vatican, told skeptical Democrats on Tuesday that the president wants the United States to be an environmental leader even after pulling the country out of the landmark accord aimed at combating global warming. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gingrich said Trump is committed to …