Child & Youth Protection

Catholics in the Southern Italian city of Enna, Sicily, protested the local church’s role in covering up sexual abuse after a court recently ruled that the diocesan bishop sought to protect a priest accused of having abused several minors as a seminarian.

Scott Surette, a devout Catholic and longtime owner of a home inspection firm, is on a mission to help renew the church.

About 87,000 Australians have been sexually abused in faith-based organizations during their childhood, with nearly three-quarters of those taking place in Catholic settings, according to new research.

Five civil lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of St. Louis July 24 allege multiple incidents of sexual abuse of minors and long-standing coverups, with a Nebraska archbishop — then a St. Louis archdiocesan priest — included among the accused.

A judge ruled July 12 that the Washington state attorney general does not have legal authority to enforce a subpoena for clergy abuse records against the Archdiocese of Seattle, specifically noting that the religious exemption in the state Charitable Trust Act stands.