News - Protection of Children and Adults RSS Feed

CLEVELAND (CNS) -- A trio of survivors of sexual abuse are inviting the Catholic Church -- from parishioners in the pews to the bishops who lead dioceses -- to join them on their journey toward healing and reconciliation.

ROME (CNS) -- To help foster a wider discussion on work that still must be done to safeguard minors and vulnerable people in the Catholic Church, a canon law journal published a series of talks by experts regarding accountability, transparency and confidentiality in the handling of abuse allegations.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner, 71, who has been accused of covering up for an abusive priest.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, one of the Vatican's top experts in the field of clergy sexual abuse, said during an interfaith symposium on the subject that working together will help eliminate sexual abuse in different faiths.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago developed a comprehensive plan over a two-year period, in 1991 and 1992, to address clerical sexual abuse issues in the Illinois archdiocese, he provided a copy of those procedures to all his fellow U.S. bishops at their annual meeting.

ST. PAUL. Minn. (CNS) -- An independent investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Catholic music composer David Haas in the years he held summer music programs at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As religious leaders, scholars, experts and abuse survivors come together online to participate in a three-day international symposium on faith, healing and prevention, Pope Francis sent a message as part of a series of opening remarks for the event.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Pope Francis abolished the "pontifical secret" covering the church's judicial handling of cases of the sexual abuse of minors, it was hailed as a major step forward in promoting greater transparency and accountability.

A brief protest of about 20 persons took place on Monday, March 29th, in front of the Diocese of Tucson Chancery.

Pope Francis has granted Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse a leave of absence from his duties, the Hamburg Archdiocese announced March 29.

The Vatican has imposed sanctions on two Polish Catholic bishops, who resigned in 2020 after being accused of ignoring sexual abuse by their clergy.

Pope Francis has named Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse by a notorious Chilean priest, to be a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"To simply take the moral responsibility with me and to go to protect the reputation of the office of bishop and of the church -- I think that's too easy. And in my view it is also wrong," the cardinal said March 23. "Such a resignation would only be a short-lived symbol."

The Legionaries of Christ received seven new allegations of sexual abuse against members of the congregation in 2020 and released the names of four additional members who ministered in the United States and had substantiated sexual abuse allegations made against them.

Cardinal John Dew told a royal commission of inquiry that the Catholic Church in New Zealand is ashamed and saddened that people suffered abuse while in its care.

Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse has offered his resignation to Pope Francis in the wake of a report on the Cologne Archdiocese's handling of abuse cases.

A much-anticipated report on the handling of abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Cologne exonerates Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki but incriminates Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse and Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Dominik Schwaderlapp.

A former student of the minor seminary located at the Vatican said he was sexually abused over a six-year period despite having told the rector that an older student was "bothering" him.

A Polish cardinal, former secretary to St. John Paul II, could face jail time after a Polish state commission accused him of ignoring sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

Catholic clergy in France perpetrated more than three times as many sexual abuse offenses as previously thought, said the head of a bishops' commission whose report is due out in September.