Child & Youth Protection

The Catholic Church should not be discouraged by the challenge of confronting sex abuse, Pope Francis said, rather it must take concrete steps in developing policies to preserve the dignity of its members.

A multiyear investigation overseen by the Catholic Church into Archbishop John C. Nienstedt, who resigned from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2015, has ended with the Vatican finding that he acted “imprudently” in several instances but not criminally under canon law, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda said in a statement Jan. 5.

Everyone must work together to end the silence surrounding abuse if it is to be eradicated from the church and communities, Pope Francis told adult survivors of abuse as children.