Tag Archives: Catholic Church

Cardinals Petition Pope Francis To Be More Anti-Gay

The Associated Press reports: Five conservative cardinals from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have challenged Pope Francis to affirm Catholic teaching on homosexuality and female ordination ahead of a big Vatican meeting where such hot-button issues are up for debate. The cardinals on Monday published five questions they submitted to Francis, known as “dubia,” as well as an open …

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Baltimore Archdiocese Files For Bankruptcy Protection

The Washington Post reports: The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, less than two days before a new state law takes effect allowing victims of child sexual abuse to sue institutions, no matter how long ago the abuse took place. Federal bankruptcy law halts all lawsuits against an entity that files for bankruptcy. Instead, the legal action …

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Letter Shows Pope Pius XII Was Told About Holocaust

The New York Times reports: A letter found among the private papers of Pope Pius XII suggests that the Holy See was told in 1942 that up to 6,000 people, “above all Poles and Jews,” were being killed in furnaces every day at Belzec, a Nazi death camp in Poland. Though news of the atrocities being perpetrated by Hitler was …

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CA Catholic Priest Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: A priest with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has been charged with possession of child pornography, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara, 38, of Long Beach, allegedly possessed more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including pictures and videos of minors under 12, officials said. Martinez-Guevara is a member …

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New Orleans Priest Indicted On Child Rape Charges

The Guardian reports: A retired Catholic priest from New Orleans who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested or harassed numerous children is now facing criminal charges. State prosecutors in New Orleans obtained an indictment charging Lawrence Hecker, 91, on Thursday with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft. The crime allegedly occurred …

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New York Priest Arrested On Child Sex Charges

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports: A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese has been charged with forcibly touching a minor over several years, deputies said. Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, is accused of touching the minor between 2019 and 2021 in the town of Homer and in the city of Cortland. Brooks is an administrator at the Church of the …

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NOLA Archdiocese Will Sell Properties To Settle Suits

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: More than three years after filing for bankruptcy protection amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to sell off seven properties — including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore Uptown — as a way to …

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Cardinal Escapes Sexual Abuse Trial Due To Dementia

NPR reports: Theodore McCarrick was once a cardinal – one of the highest-ranking positions in the Roman Catholic Church. He was also the archbishop of Washington, D.C. And he’s the only current or former U.S. cardinal to ever face sex abuse charges. But now a judge in Massachusetts has dismissed a criminal case against McCarrick stemming from the alleged molestation …

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Pope Rips “Backwardness” Of US Right Wing Catholics

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time. Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who …

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SF Archdiocese Declares Bankruptcy Amid Abuse Suits

The Associated Press reports: San Francisco’s Roman Catholic archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials. The Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal actions against the archdiocese and thus allow it to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said …

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Denver Archdiocese Preschools Sue To Exclude LGBTQs

The Denver Post reports: The Denver Catholic Archdiocese along with two of its parishes is suing the state alleging their First Amendment rights are violated because their desire to exclude LGBTQ parents, staff and kids from Archdiocesan preschools keeps them from participating in Colorado’s new universal preschool program. The program is intended to provide every child 15 hours per week …

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Catholic School Teacher Guilty On Child Sex Charges

Fort Wayne’s CBS affiliate reports: A former teacher at Bishop Luers High School pleaded guilty Wednesday to child seduction following allegations that he had sex with multiple students. Jordan Miller entered a guilty plea on two counts of child seduction, a Level 5 felony. If a judge accepts Miller’s guilty plea, the 33-year-old would serve four years of probation. An …

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Two Texas Priests Axed After Child Sex Accusations

The San Antonio Express-News reports: In letters read aloud on Sunday to the affected congregations, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller announced that two priests had been removed from ministry and reported to law enforcement over allegations that they had inappropriate sexual contact with minors. The congregations at both churches were notified Sunday via letters from Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller that were …

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Catholic Priest Pleads Guilty To Molestation Charges

Greenville, South Carolina’s CBS affiliate reports: A former priest in Laurens, South Carolina, will be headed to prison after taking a minor from South Carolina to Florida with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, aka “Father Gonzalez,” 68, of Laurens, a former Catholic priest, pleaded guilty in federal court …

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Philly Archdiocese Settles Child Rape Suit For $3.5M

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its priests sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in Delaware County nearly two decades ago. Filed in 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Pastor John Close raped the boy at St. Katherine’s of Siena in Wayne in 2006. The plaintiff, whose name …

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REPORT: New Orleans Archbishop Shielded Abusers

The Guardian reports: A board which helps the Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, evaluate abuse allegations against priests and deacons in six cases found clergymen to be credibly accused only for Aymond to ignore the findings and conceal them from the public, a Guardian investigation has found. Aymond’s management of the cases in question as the leader …

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Pope: Catholic Church Is “Open” To Chaste LGBTQs

Reuters reports: Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including the gay community, and that it has a duty to accompany them on a personal path of spirituality but within the framework of its rules. “The Church is open to everyone but there are laws that regulate life inside the church. According to the …

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Ontario Catholic Priest Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Global News reports: A Catholic priest working in Peterborough, Ont., faces charges of sexual offences involving a youth following an investigation by police. According to the Peterborough Police Service, the investigation led to the arrest of a man on Wednesday. Neil Pereira, 33, of Peterborough, was charged with sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference. Pereira was released from …

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Brooklyn Priest Sentenced To Five Years For Child Porn

From the Justice Department: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that FRANCIS HUGHES, a former pastor at a religious institution in Queens, New York, was sentenced to five years in prison by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern for his receipt of images of child pornography from a 15-year-old minor in …

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Same-Sex Marriage Ban Repeal Makes 2024 CA Ballot

CNN reports: California voters will have the chance to remove language barring same-sex marriage from their state’s constitution in 2024’s general election. The California Senate passed a proposed constitutional amendment on Thursday that would repeal Proposition 8 – which voters approved in 2008 to ban the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. The state Senate voted 31-0 to repeal the proposition, …

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