News Story of the Day

By Laurie Goodstein, NY Times

Human rights lawyers and victims of clergy sexual abuse said they would file a complaint on Tuesday urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVIand three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for what they described as abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests.

Deputy Philadelphia District Attorney Charles Gallagher was keenly aware that he had the bishop of the Allentown Catholic Diocese in the witness chair, yet he was finding it difficult to beat back the anger that was welling up inside him.

By EDMUND H. MAHONY

The Hartford Courant

A state judge has upheld key elements of a lawsuit claiming that for years the Vatican ignored allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ, a secretive Catholic order based in Connecticut.

By: Scott Theisen

A woman who says she was sexually abused by a former priest in northern Minnesota when she was 14 has reached a $750,000 settlement that requires the Diocese of Crookston to warn parishioners about the abuse and take steps to protect kids in the future.

By Fergus Finlay

THE gimlet eye of a canon lawyer. Read the "Response of the Holy See to the Government of Ireland" — the Vatican’s response to the criticism levelled at them by Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore — and that’s all you’ll see.

Msgr. William J. Lynn was dismissive when a Northeast Philadelphia man reported that a priest had repeatedly raped him as a teenager, attacks that took place on the priest's farm, in a church rectory, and on a trip to Walt Disney World.

MEMBERS of the Salesian religious order, under fire for its handling of sexual abuse complaints, tried to discredit a journalist by falsely claiming he had spent time in jail for child sex offences, according to Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson.

A LEADING child protection expert has urged the Victorian government to hold a public inquiry into the handling of child-sex cases by a Catholic religious order after the Catholic Church suppressed a report it asked him to write.

A 17-year old girl who was reportedly raped by a parish priest in Agusan del Norte is now under the care of women's rights organization Gabriela, an officer of the group said Friday. 

By MARK MORRIS and JUDY L. THOMAS

The Kansas City Star

A local grand jury is poised to explore the case of a Roman Catholic priest who already is facing child pornography charges in state and federal courts, The Star has learned.

Grand jurors in Jackson County soon will hear evidence related to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan case, independent sources have told the newspaper.