Tag: clerical sex abuse

• Saturday, December 22nd 2018 - 06:03 UTC

  Pope Francis pledges that “never again” will the Church cover up clergy sex abuse

  

  Pope Francis has vowed 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 papacy and caused a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

• Thursday, September 13th 2018 - 08:54 UTC

  German Catholic Church admits 3,600 children were assaulted by priests between 1946 and 2014

  

  More than 3,600 children in Germany were assaulted by Roman Catholic priests between 1946 and 2014, a leaked report has revealed. The study was commissioned by the Church itself, and was due to be published on 25 September. According to the report some 1.760 clergymen in Germany committed some form of sex attack on 3.677 minors, the German outlet Spiegel Online reported.

• Friday, August 17th 2018 - 09:44 UTC

  Pope Francis sides with victims of 300 “predators” and wants “to root out this tragic horror”

  

  Pope Francis is on the side of victims of more than 300 “predator” priests in the US accused of abusing children in one state, the Vatican says. In a statement, it said the Church wanted to listen to the victims to “root out this tragic horror”.

• Saturday, May 24th 2014 - 10:13 UTC

  UN urges Vatican to live up to Pope's Francis vow to stamp out child sex abuse

  

  A UN watchdog urged the Vatican on Friday to live up to Pope Francis' vow to stamp out child sex abuse by priests, calling on the Church to ensure violators face justice. Three weeks after grilling the Vatican at a public hearing, the UN Committee Against Torture said the Roman Catholic Church had made progress, but said there are still failings of major concern.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2014 - 00:11 UTC

  Vatican admits having defrocked 848 priests over ten years for sex abuse

  

  For the first time, the Vatican has revealed a statistical picture of the internal fallout from the church's sex abuse epidemic. According to the Vatican's U.N. Ambassador Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Pope defrocked 848 priests over the past 10 years, and doled out lesser punishments to another 2,572 accused of molesting children. That includes punishments handed down by John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.

• Monday, January 20th 2014 - 22:19 UTC

  Over 400 priests defrocked in two years by former Pope Benedict XVI

  

  Close to 400 priests were defrocked in only two years by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse, the Vatican has confirmed. The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase compared to previous years, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press (AP).

• Saturday, April 6th 2013 - 03:55 UTC

  Francis calls for “decisive action” in the fight against sex abuse of minors by priest

  

  Pope Francis has called for “decisive action” in the fight against sex abuse of minors by priests. He told Bishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the Vatican watchdog that deals with sex abuse cases - to ensure that perpetrators were punished.