Catholic Church sex scandals

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Vatican to Bishops: Report Sex Abuse to Cops

Guidelines the first to mandate clergy obey civil law

(Newser) - The Vatican today responded to allegations that it had concealed years of clerical sex abuse by mandating for the first time that bishops and other high-ranking clerics should report such crimes to police if required by law. "Where the civil state creates an obligation to report, bishops are required...

Calif. Priest's Victim: 'He Was God'

Four decades later, Stephen Kiesle's victim speaks out

(Newser) - It started with a 7-year-old girl innocently sitting on the lap of the playful "big kid" priest with the purple sneakers, and it quickly turned to sexual abuse that he framed as exorcisms. "He told me I had the devil inside me" as he touched her chest and...

Bishop: Vatican Abuse Uproar a 'Zionist Attack'

Italian priest allegedly blames Jews for sex abuse scandal

(Newser) - Jews are fanning the flames of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, an elderly Italian bishop has allegedly claimed—and American Jewish groups aren't too happy about it. A Catholic website quotes Giacomo Babini, 81, as saying the "powerful and refined" nature of criticism of the church suggests a...

Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill
 Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill 
Apr 12, 2010 2:52 AM CDT

Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill

Conn. legislation 'undermines church mission'

(Newser) - Connecticut bishops are using church pulpits to battle a Connecticut bill to remove the statute of limitations on child sex abuse. The state's three Roman Catholic bishops issued a weekend letter to be discussed at mass yesterday, saying the bill "would put all church institutions, including your parish, at...

Atheist Academic Wants to Arrest the Pope

Human rights lawyers hope to prove 'crimes against humanity'

(Newser) - A prominent atheist campaigner is working on a plan to have the pope arrested when he visits the UK in September. British academic Richard Dawkins tells the Times of London he's enlisted human rights lawyers to help prove a case of "crimes against humanity." If his plan works,...

Calif. Priest Was Immature, Obsessed By Kids

Peers were suspicious of Stephen Kiesle from the start

(Newser) - Even in his seminary days in the early '70s, there were questions about California priest Stephen Kiesle: "He was not grown up. He spent more time with kids than with people his own age. You get suspicious of that. There's something wrong there," says a former Oakland bishop....

Benedict Stonewalled on Defrocking Pedophile Priest

AP digs up 25-year-old letter that refutes pope's story

(Newser) - The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a US priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including "the good of the universal church," according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature. The correspondence, obtained by the AP, is the strongest challenge yet to...

Jon Stewart Pummels Pope
 Jon Stewart Pummels Pope 
Apr 8, 2010 6:09 AM CDT

Jon Stewart Pummels Pope

Host says Domino's Pizza more contrite than Church

(Newser) - Maureen Dowd has been nipping at Pope Benedict's heels, but you know you're in trouble when Jon Stewart takes aim at you. On last night's Daily Show , Stewart blasted the pontiff's defiance over his handling of sex abuse cases. "If any other organization had done anything close to...

Nixon-esque Pope Must Convert
 Nixon-esque Pope Must Convert 
Timothy Shriver
Apr 5, 2010 12:15 PM CDT

Nixon-esque Pope Must Convert

The Catholic Church is embroiled in its version of Watergate

(Newser) - The Catholic Church’s current scandal bears an uncanny resemblance to Watergate. What at first looks like an isolated crime has slowly escalated, ultimately revealing corruption at the highest levels of authority. The pope isn’t going to resign—the church isn’t a democracy, and it needn’t bow...

Hardest Word for Pope: Sorry

 Hardest Word for Pope: Sorry 
Apr 5, 2010 8:10 AM CDT

Hardest Word for Pope: Sorry

Why Benedict won't be apologizing anytime soon

(Newser) - Pope Benedict didn't join the many bishops in countries plagued by sex abuse scandals who said "sorry" during this Holy Week, and you won't hear that word come from his mouth any time soon. That's because the Pope "operates on an entirely different public relations plane to media-savvy...

Pope's Preacher Addresses Anti-Semitism Remark Backlash

Raniero Cantalamessa says he's sorry 'if I hurt feelings'

(Newser) - The Vatican official who compared the fallout from the church's alleged cover-up of child sex-abuse cases to the "more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism" has acknowledged the subsequent firestorm of criticism but stopped short of apologizing. "If—and it was not my intention to do so—I hurt the...

It's Time to Man Up, Benedict
 It's Time to Man Up, Benedict 
MAUREEN DOWD
Apr 4, 2010 9:52 AM CDT

It's Time to Man Up, Benedict

Vatican needs to stop covering up and admit its role

(Newser) - Maureen Dowd's column never rests on Sundays, and she takes this Easter to continue her full-on assault of Pope Benedict, this time eviscerating the Vatican's chief exorcist's assertion that the New York Times' unfavorable coverage of the sex abuse scandal has been "prompted by the Devil." "The...

Pope Hailed as 'Unfailing' Leader at Easter Mass

Pontiff keeps his silence on sex abuse scandals

(Newser) - A senior cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI from "petty gossip" today, praising his "unfailing" leadership, even as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting accusations of sex abuse cover-ups during his Easter message. At the end of the two-hour long ceremony, a weary-looking Benedict delivered the papacy's traditional...

Anglican Leader: Irish Church Lost 'All Credibility'

Archbishop of Canterbury quickly apologizes

(Newser) - The head of the Anglican church has set off a religious row by declaring that the Catholic church in Ireland has lost "all credibility" because of the sex abuse scandal. The archbishop of Canterbury made the comment in an interview with the BBC , then called the Catholic archbishop in...

Church Sex Abuse Fallout Compared to Anti-Semitism

Pope Benedict's personal preacher defends pontiff against attacks

(Newser) - A high-level Vatican official who serves as preacher to the papal household is under fire for saying in his Good Friday homily that criticism of the way the pontiff has handled the child sex abuse scandal is comparable to "the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism." The Rev. Raniero...

Vatican Told of Abuse in 1963

US priest wrote Pope Paul VI urging defrocking of 'problem priests'

(Newser) - A letter sent to Pope Paul VI in 1963 surfaced yesterday, and its contents suggest that the Vatican was aware of the sexual abuse problems happening in the US Catholic Church nearly five decades ago. Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald wrote the letter, which was made public by lawyers representing alleged abuse...

US Bishops Returning Accused Priests to Ministry

With sex abuse scandal behind them, some slide back into ministry

(Newser) - The Catholic Church’s official policy is that any priest credibly accused of sexual abuse will be removed from ministry, but the definition of “credibly accused” seems like a loose one. US bishops have been quietly reinstating accused priests in the decade since this country's abuse scandal, NPR reports....

Vatican Biggies Defend Pope, Blast NY Times

Cardinal: NY Times unfair to church, Benedict

(Newser) - The Vatican has come out swinging over Pope Benedict's handling of sexual abuse cases, with one top cardinal blasting the New York Times for unfair coverage on the Vatican website and in a Times interview , while another claims the pontiff has immunity from prosecution. "The Church is not a...

Vatican Tries to Shield Pope from Lawsuit

Offers 3 reasons he isn't responsible for abuse, and can't testify

(Newser) - The Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer questions under oath about clerical sex abuse. Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw...

Vatican Response Rubs Salt Into Abuse Victims' Wounds

Survivors aren't trying to hurt the Pope, say survivors

(Newser) - A man who says he was among some 200 deaf boys allegedly molested by a priest in Wisconsin said yesterday the Vatican's defensive responses to revelations about the case make him feel like he did when he was 12, when no one would listen to him about the abuse—while...

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