Protection of Children and Adults

After a prominent Jesuit priest was accused of sexually abusing a girl, Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced he is contemplating opening a nationwide investigation into the Catholic Church.

In a statement May 3, the Jesuit province in Chile said, "a complaint was received April 29 from an adult woman against Jesuit Father Felipe Berríos for acts of sexual connotation. Such events would have occurred when the complainant was a minor."

At a press briefing following their meeting with Pope Francis on Friday, leadership and members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors met with journalists to illustrate how the Pope has made child protection a top priority for the Church.

Addressing the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Pope Francis requests an annual report on the Church's safeguarding initiatives to help competent authorities respond to allegations of abuse on the part of clergy, and praises the work being done by the Commission.

The Catholic bishops of Spain presented their plan on Thursday for an independent commission on the clerical abuse crisis to Pope Francis.

Catholic bishops in Japan have dedicated the second Friday of Lent as a Day of Prayer and Penance for Victims and Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

The former bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, Bishop Michael Hoeppner, will not return to do any ministry in the diocese and will have his retirement compensation cut, the diocese’s new shepherd announced on March 7.

Retired Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, formerly a close colleague of Pope Francis, was sentenced March 4 in a sexual abuse case.

Caving to pressure from abuse survivors, politicians and the media, the Spanish bishops announced on Tuesday that they will conduct a full, nation-wide investigation of clerical sexual abuse.

On the second day of the trial against Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta over sexual abuse, a priest testified that he had porn on his phone, while a psychologist of one of the alleged victims testified that the bishops’ behavior “scared and intimidated him.”