Law firm to publish report on handling of abuse in Munich Archdiocese January 4, 2022By Catholic News Service Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, World News In mid-January, the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl is scheduled to publish a report into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
Pope approves updates to norms for dealing with ‘grave crimes’ December 7, 2021By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, News, Vatican, World News Pope Francis has given formal approval to a series of updates and modifications that have been made over the years to the norms regarding clerical sexual abuse and other crimes reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In sunrise walk, bishops, survivors seek day of prayer to end sex abuse November 18, 2021By Rhina Guidos Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, Local News, News, U.S. Bishops Meeting - Fall 2021 The sun barely had peaked over the horizon, ending the darkness and bringing light into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, where two U.S. cardinals, six bishops and prominent leaders of various faiths clasped hands with a group of about 20 men and women Nov. 18, praying for an end to the “evil” that brought them together.
Bishops agree to begin review of charter earlier than planned November 17, 2021By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, U.S. Bishops Meeting - Fall 2021, World News On Nov. 17, the second of two days of public sessions during their fall general assembly Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore, the bishops voted to begin the process of updating the charter in 2022 rather than in 2025. The vote was 230 bishops in favor of the plan and five bishops against it.
Pope thanks reporters for speaking truth, giving voice to abuse victims November 16, 2021By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Honoring two reporters who have covered the Vatican for more than 40 years, Pope Francis paid tribute to all journalists who work to explain what is going on in the world and “make it less obscure.”
Former Harford County priest pleads guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor October 6, 2021By George P. Matysek Jr. Catholic Review Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, Local News, News Fernando Cristancho, a former priest assigned to St. Ignatius, Hickory, in Forest Hill, pleaded guilty Oct. 4 to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, according to an Oct. 5 news release from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. Cristancho met the victim through the parish. He also admitted that he produced nude images of four other minor victims.
Report estimates 330,000 children abused in French church since 1950s October 5, 2021By Barb Fraze Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, World News An independent report on sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church estimates 330,000 children have been abused since the 1950s. Most of the victims were pre-adolescent boys of all social backgrounds, and more than a third of the assaults were committed by laypeople.
Boston Globe: Police charge McCarrick with assault in case dating to 1970s July 29, 2021By Catholic News Service Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, World News The Boston Globe reported July 29 that police in the Boston suburb of Wellesley have charged former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 in a criminal complaint filed by Wellesley Police in a district court in nearby Dedham, Massachusetts.
Pope denies cardinal’s request to resign; agrees ‘we have sinned’ June 10, 2021By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Agreeing with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx that Catholic leaders cannot adopt an “ostrich policy” in the face of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis still told the cardinal that he would not accept his resignation as head of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
Pope promulgates revised canon law on crimes, punishments June 1, 2021By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, Vatican, World News A series of laws and procedures promulgated by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and, especially, by Pope Francis to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are included in a heavily revised section of the Code of Canon Law.
Seminaries in Archdiocese of Baltimore among those committing to sexual misconduct policy benchmarks May 27, 2021By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, Local News, News, Vocations Eighteen seminaries – including St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg – have committed to meeting five sexual misconduct policy benchmarks developed by a group of laypeople, seminary leaders and bishops.
‘Old habit’ of covering up abuse must stop everywhere, pope says May 17, 2021By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Feature, News, World News Abuse against a minor is a kind of “psychological murder” that can destroy the victim’s childhood, Pope Francis told an Italian association active in the fight against child abuse and online child pornography.
