News Story of the Day

by Christine Niles, October 12, 2015, Church Militant

Abuse victims now questioning Pope Francis' commitment to eradicating priestly sex abuse

OSORNO, Chile, October 12, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - There's been an uproar in Chile ever since Pope Francis called critics of a controversial Chilean bishop "dumb."

Bishop Juan Barros Madrid, appointed by Pope Francis early this year to head the diocese of Osorno, Chile, has been dogged by controversy for allegedly covering up sex abuse by priest-friend Francisco Karadima 20 years ago.

LINDA CROCKETT, October 9, 2015, Lancaster Online,

A major focus of Samaritan Counseling Center is preventing child sexual abuse. Our therapists see the devastation it causes, the ripple effect often extending into midlife. Samaritan SafeChurch is a project we started to educate faith communities about sexual abuse prevention.

By PASCALE BONNEFOYOCT. 7, 2015, New York Times

SANTIAGO, Chile — Many watched in disbelief: There he was, Pope Francis, calling people in Osorno, a city in southern Chile, “dumb” for protesting against a bishop accused of being complicit in clerical sexual abuse.

“The Osorno community is suffering because it’s dumb,” Pope Francis told a group of tourists on St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, because it “has let its head be filled with what politicians say, judging a bishop without any proof.”

Opinions/Editorial, OCTOBER 7, 2015, NorthJersey.com

WHEN POPE Francis came to the United States, there was talk about a "Francis effect." Perhaps such an effect will light a fire under state senators who, so far, have failed to take action on a bill that would offer justice and closure to adults who were sexually abused as children.

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE,  6 October 2015, DailyMail.com

• Vatican has been sending gay priests to be 'cured', Italian press claims 
• Priests who 'show inappropriate sexual tendencies' sent to monastery
• One gay former priest claims he was dismissed after refusing to go 

The Vatican has been sending homosexual priests to be 'cured' at a monastery in the Italian Alps, it has emerged.

Priests who come out as gay are removed to the monastery in Trento, northern Italy, by the Vatican to be 'treated' alongside drug addicts and paedophiles, Italian press claims.

by Joseph Pelletier  •   October 2, 2015  Church Militant

SANTIAGO, Chile, October 2, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Chilean cardinal and close advisor to the Pope is being accused of complicity in the cover-up of sex abuse.

Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, one of nine appointed by Pope Francis to the highly influential Council of Cardinal Advisers, testified for five hours Wednesday in a suit filed by the victims of Fr. Fernando Karadima, a high-profile priest accused of sexually abusing several boys two decades ago. The accusations assert that Cdl. Errázuriz, Archbishop-Emeritus of Santiago, Chile, was fully aware of the abuse as early as 2003 and that he chose to ignore the victims' pleas for action. 

On the day that news broke of the pope's meeting with Kim Davis, I was finishing Mary Dispenza's painful, liberating account of her struggle to come to terms with her sexual abuse by a priest as a little girl, followed by her struggle to come to terms with her gay sexual orientation as an adult — and, in both cases, her narrative centers on her difficult attempt to deal with the callousness and cruelty of Catholic "pastoral" leaders as she struggled along. 

 KATHLEEN NUTT, SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2015 - 12:14 AM, The National   

One of the most long-awaited public inquiries to be held in Scotland is due to get under way tomorrow.

The statutory inquiry into historical abuse of children in care will be headed by leading QC Susan O’Brien and is expected to last four years before reporting back to Cabinet Secretary for Education Angela Constance.

By Patrick Temple-West, 09/27/15 03:35 PM EDT, Updated 09/27/15 08:04 PM EDT, Politico.com

States must suspend civil statute-of-limitation laws to help victims of Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse, a leading advocacy group said Sunday, hours after Pope Francis met with survivors of clerical sexual abuse on the last day of his U.S. trip.

As crowds gathered early Sunday morning for a huge Mass in Center City Philadelphia during the afternoon, Pope Francis met at a seminary just outside the city for 40 minutes with individuals had been sexually abused when they were minors: The pontiff met with three women and two men who were not named, but were said to be from the area.

By LAURIE GOODSTEINSEPT. 27, 2015, NY Times

PHILADELPHIA — At the start of an otherwise joyous and well-received trip to the United States, Pope Francis hit one seriously sour note: He praised American bishops for their handling of the sexual abuse scandal and told priests he felt their pain — leaving abuse victims stunned and infuriated, asking why he neglected to even acknowledge their anguish.