Tag: Catholic Church

Tuesday, May 7th 2019 - 08:32 UTC
Pope Francis tells Argentine bishops he desires to visit his homeland in the near future

Despite stating at the outset that he didn’t like travel and didn’t plan to do much of it, during the first six years of his pontificate Pope Francis made close to 30 international trips, including visiting virtually every country of Latin America. Yet there’s one glaring exception: his home country, Argentina and neighbouring Uruguay.
Friday, April 12th 2019 - 07:50 UTC
Ex Pope Benedict blames clerical abuse on the “all out sexual freedom” of the sixties

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published a letter which blames clerical sex abuse on the “all-out sexual freedom” of the 1960s. He said that cultural and historical change had led to a “dissolution” of morality in Catholicism.
Wednesday, March 27th 2019 - 08:08 UTC
Conservative Catholics blast the Pope because he dislikes people kneeling and ring kissing

To kiss the ring on the pope’s hand or not to - that is the question. On Monday, when Pope Francis visited a Catholic shrine in Loreto, he repeatedly withdrew his right hand as a long line of people bowed and tried to kiss the ring on it.
Wednesday, March 13th 2019 - 09:40 UTC
Ex Vatican treasurer sentenced to six years in jail for sexually abusing choir boys

Former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to 6 years in jail on Wednesday by an Australian court for sexually abusing two choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s. Pell, a former top adviser to Pope Francis, is the most senior Catholic worldwide to be convicted for child sex offences.
Tuesday, March 5th 2019 - 09:32 UTC
Pope Francis will open Vatican archives on Pius XII and the Holocaust

Pope Francis has said the Roman Catholic Church will open up its archives on Pius XII, who was Pope during World War Two. Pius, who was Pope from 1939 to 1958, has been accused of tolerating the rise of Nazi Germany and of not doing enough to protect Jews during the Holocaust. The Vatican says he worked behind the scenes to try to protect Jews.
Tuesday, February 26th 2019 - 09:55 UTC
Another blow for the Catholic Church: Cardinal Pell found guilty of sexually assaulting choirboys

Australian Cardinal George Pell who helped elect popes and ran the Vatican's finances, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex crimes.
Monday, February 25th 2019 - 09:05 UTC
Pope ends sexual abuse conference calling for an “all out battle” but victims remain deeply disappointed

Pope Francis has ended his conference on the sexual abuse of children by clergy by calling for an “all-out battle” against a crime that should be “erased from the face of the earth”. But victims and their advocates expressed deep disappointment, saying Francis had merely repeated old promises and offered few new concrete proposals.
Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 09:31 UTC
“Hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice,” Pope Francis tells Vatican summit fighting sex abuse

Pope Francis on Thursday opened a landmark Vatican summit on fighting child sex abuse, calling for “concrete measures” and handing top Catholic bishops a roadmap to tackling paedophilia in the church.
Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 09:31 UTC
Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy demand to meet Pope Francis

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy demanded on Wednesday to meet Pope Francis to press their call for the Church to apply a zero-tolerance policy including the dismissal of bishops who covered up such offences.
Wednesday, February 6th 2019 - 09:09 UTC
Sexual abuse of nuns by clerics, including abortions, 'and still going', was admitted by Pope Francis

Pope Francis has admitted that clerics have sexually abused nuns, and in one case they were kept as sex slaves. He said in that case his predecessor, Pope Benedict, was forced to shut down an entire congregation of nuns who were being abused by priests.