Tag Archives: Pope Francis

Pope Calls For “All-Out Battle” Against Clerical Abuse

The Wall Street Journal reports: Pope Francis closed an unprecedented Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse by promising to protect children and help victims of what he called a plague of clerical sex abuse, but he offered few policy specifics. The pope, in his widely awaited closing speech on Sunday, said the church’s response should avoid “defensiveness that fails to …

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Cardinal Admits: We Destroyed Files On Pedophiles

Agence France-Presse reports: A top Catholic cardinal admitted Saturday that Church files on priests who sexually abused children were destroyed or never even drawn up, a move which allowed pedophiles to prey on others. “Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created,” German Cardinal Reinhard Marx told a landmark Vatican …

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Pope Defrocks Cardinal For Sexual Abuse Of Minors

The Guardian reports: A former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal has been dismissed from the priesthood after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors in a sign of an increasingly hardline stance taken by the church. Theodore McCarrick, 88, one of the prominent figures in the church, was defrocked just days before an unprecedented global summit of bishops …

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Pope Confirms Priests Abuse Nuns As “Sexual Slaves”

CBS News reports: Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and even being held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday. The abuse was so severe in one case that an entire congregation of nuns was dissolved by former Pope Benedict. The scope of the abuse of nuns by …

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Pope Blasts US Bishops Over Abuse Crisis: Your Finger Pointing Is Damaging The Credibility Of The Church

Axios reports: In a lengthy and highly unusual letter to U.S. bishops on Thursday, Pope Francis wrote that the mounting child sex abuse crisis has jeopardized the Catholic Church’s credibility. He lambasted church leaders for focusing “more on pointing fingers than on seeking paths of reconciliation.” “This has led to a growing sense of uncertainty, distrust and vulnerability among the …

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Vatican Spox Resigns Amid Abuse Coverup Scandal

The Associated Press reports: The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, and his deputy resigned abruptly Monday amid an overhaul of the Vatican’s communications operations and a crisis period in Pope Francis’ papacy. The departures of Burke and his deputy, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, signaled that problems associated with Francis’ reform of the Vatican bureaucracy came to a head at a bad time. …

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Pope’s Xmas Message: Abandon Greed, Embrace Love, Peace In Middle East, Stop Seeing Danger In Difference

Reuters reports: Pope Francis, in his Christmas message to the world, urged people on Tuesday to see differences as a source of richness instead of danger and called for reconciliation in places torn apart by conflict. Francis delivered the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” message to tens of thousands of people in a sunny St. Peter’s Square from the same …

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Pope Francis To Rapist Priests: Turn Yourselves In

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis vowed Friday that the Catholic Church will “never again” cover up clergy sex abuse and demanded that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in. Francis dedicated his annual Christmas speech to the Vatican bureaucracy to abuse, evidence that a year of devastating revelations of sexual misconduct and cover-up has shaken his …

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Pope Bars Bishops From Action On Clergy Sexual Abuse

From the National Catholic Reporter: The plenary meeting of the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops opened with a bombshell. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the conference, announced that the Holy See had insisted the U.S. bishops not vote on any concrete action items regarding the clergy sex abuse crisis, pending the February meeting of the presidents of all episcopal …

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Pope Francis Defrocks Two More Bishops, Vatican Cites “Overwhelming Evidence” Of Sexual Abuse Of Minors

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Saturday defrocked two more Chilean bishops accused of sexually abusing minors, and to show greater transparency about how he’s responding to the church’s global sex abuse crisis, he publicly explained why they were removed. The Vatican’s unusually detailed statement announcing the laicization of retired Archbishop Francisco Jose Cox Huneeus and retired Bishop Marco …

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Pope Francis Blames Sexual Abuse Scandals On Satan

Bloomberg reports: The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis says. In fact, the pope is so convinced that Satan is to blame for the sexual abuse crisis and deep divisions racking the Church that he has asked Catholics around the world to recite a special prayer every day in October …

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Pope: Sex Abuse Scandals Are Driving People Away

Pope Francis today acknowledged that sexual abuse scandals all over the world are driving people away from the Catholic Church. Francis referred directly to the crisis convulsing his papacy on the fourth and final day of his Baltic pilgrimage, which coincided with the release of a devastating new report into decades of sex abuse and cover-up in Germany. Francis told …

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Pope Calls On “Dear Brothers” In Mafia To Repent

Euronews reports: Pope Francis appealed to Sicily’s Mafia on Saturday to abandon a life of crime and violence, saying the island needed “men and women of love, not men and women ‘of honor,’” using the term mobsters apply to themselves. Francis, in the Sicilian capital, said organized crime members – many of whom go to church and worship openly – …

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Pope Summons Bishops For Sexual Abuse Summit

USA Today reports: Pope Francis has summoned the presidents of Catholic bishops conferences worldwide to the Vatican in February to discuss how to stop clergy from sexually abusing children. The meeting, on February 21-24, is believed to be the first of its kind. Some clergy from the Catholic Church have been carrying out abuse for decades. An investigation in the …

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Vatican Erases Its Official Record: Pope Francis Didn’t Mean To Suggest That Gay Kids Need Psychiatric Help

The Guardian reports: The Vatican has rolled back on a recommendation by Pope Francis that parents seek psychiatric help for children who show homosexual tendencies. The pope made the comments to journalists as he was flying back to Rome from Ireland, but the Vatican later removed his phrase from its official account, saying he had not meant to suggest that …

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Pope Francis: Parents Shouldn’t Reject Their Gay Kids, But Should Seek Psychiatric Help For Them [VIDEO]

Agence France-Presse reports: Pope Francis has recommended parents seek psychiatric help for children who show homosexual tendencies, during a press conference on his plane taking him back to Rome from Ireland. A journalist asked the pontiff on Sunday what he would say to parents who observe homosexual traits in their children. “I would say first of all pray, not to …

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Pope Refuses Comment On Claim He Ignored Abuse

Agence France-Presse reports: Pope Francis has declined to comment on a claim he personally ignored sexual abuse allegations against a senior clergyman, after a visit to Ireland dominated by Church scandals. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican envoy to the United States, said he had told Francis of the allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013. But …

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Former Vatican Official Fired Over Kim Davis Meeting Claims Popes Long Knew About Cardinal’s Misconduct

The Washington Post reports: A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis — among other top Catholic Church officials — had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against a top American cardinal years before that prelate resigned this summer. The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano [photo], …

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Pope To Ireland’s Gay PM: “I’m Ashamed” [VIDEO]

The BBC reports: Pope Francis has said he is ashamed of the Catholic Church’s failure to adequately address the “repellent crimes” of sex abuse by clergy. The Pope was addressing political leaders and diplomats at Dublin Castle during the first papal visit to the Republic of Ireland for 40 years. He is expected to meet victims of clerical sex abuse …

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Pope Issues Letter Condemning Sex Abuse Coverup

NBC News reports: Pope Francis on Monday issued a letter to Catholics around the world condemning sexual abuse and cover-up, and demanding accountability in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church. Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said lay Catholics must be involved in any effort to …

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