Pope Francis sought to encourage and reinvigorate the Catholic Church in Belgium, which has been disheartened by the abuse crisis.
Sexual Abuse
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis says ‘the church should be ashamed of itself’ for the sex abuse crisis in hard-hit Belgium
The prime minister’s speech at the start of Pope Francis’ visit was one of the most pointed ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip and underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium.
Posted inFaith, News
East Timor’s sex abuse scandal has been ignored by many Catholics. Can Pope Francis’ visit change that?
The pope’s visit comes only two years after the Vatican acknowledged that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, East Timorese independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys.
Posted inFaith, News
Vatican expels founder of Peru’s influential Sodalitium religious movement after probe into sexual abuse
The movement was founded in 1971 as a lay community to recruit “soldiers for God,” one of several Catholic societies born as a conservative reaction to the left-leaning liberation theology movement that swept through Latin America
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
In surprise move, Pope Francis appoints Rhode Island bishop to head Boston archdiocese
Pope Francis has named Richard Garth Henning, 59, current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, as the seventh Archbishop of Boston, the Vatican announced on Aug. 5.
Posted inFaith, News
Quebec’s Cardinal Lacroix resumes duties after being cleared by Vatican abuse investigation
Following a Vatican-mandated investigation that found no evidence of sexual misconduct, Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix is returning to his position as Quebec’s archbishop and primate of Canada.
Posted inFaith, News
Beloved priest Abbé Pierre was the conscience of France. Several women now accuse him of assault.
A foundation says a legendary French priest and a lifelong advocate of the homeless has been accused of committing acts that would amount to “sexual assault or sexual harassment.”
Posted inFaith, The Weekly Dispatch
After 35 years, a final settlement reached in the Mount Cashel Orphanage sex abuse cases
A court-empowered third-party insolvency monitor has ordered the Archdiocese of St. John’s to pay over 104 million Canadian dollars (about $76 million) to 292 survivors of Mount Cashel who were victimized behind its walls.
Posted inFaith, News
Knights of Columbus will cover up mosaics by ex-Jesuit and alleged abuser Marko Rupnik
The Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic charitable organization, says it will cover up its mosaics made by a famous ex-Jesuit artist accused of abusing women.
Posted inFaith, News
Mosaics by alleged abuser and ex-Jesuit Marko Rupnik will stay on the Lourdes shrine—for now
Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas said in a statement that ex-jesuit artist accused of abuse, Marko Rupnik’s, artwork will continue be displayed in Lourdes as to not “tear the church apart”.