Tag Archives: bishops
Abuse victims demand to see pope, call for bishops to be fired
The 12 victims met with five Vatican officials a day before the start of an unprecedented conference on clerical abuse that aims to guide senior bishops on how best to tackle a problem that has decimated the Church’s credibility. All the survivors of abuse who took part in the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, said they were disappointed the pope did not attend, even though he was not scheduled to be there. “We need to have a discussion with the man who makes the rules and has the power in this institution, and that’s Pope Francis,” said Peter Isely, an American from Milwaukee who was abused when he was a boy by a priest.
Report links half of Dutch cardinals and bishops to abuse
Pope calls meeting of key bishops on sexual abuse: Vatican
Pope calls bishops to 'child protection' meeting in February
Pope Francis will host a meeting in February of senior bishops from around the globe to discuss “the protection of minors”, the Vatican announced on Wednesday. The Catholic Church has been hit by a series of child abuse scandals in recent years, with widespread allegations of cover-ups, including against the pope himself. The meeting of Episcopal Conference presidents will be held at the Vatican from February 21 to 24, the C9 cardinals’ conference that advises the pope on reform said in a statement.
Pope summons bishops for sex abuse scandal meeting as thousands of cases emerge in Germany
Pope Francis has summoned senior Catholic bishops from around the world to the Vatican to discuss the protection of minors, in his latest attempt to come to grips with a spreading sexual abuse crisis. The heads of the national Catholic bishops' conferences will meet with Francis from February 21-24 next year, a Vatican spokeswoman said. The announcement came at the end of a three-day meeting of the "C-9", a group of nine cardinals from around the world who members meet about four times a year to advise the pope. The spokeswoman said the sexual abuse crisis was a main topic at the meeting, which six of the members attended. The Catholic Church is facing sexual abuse scandals in the United States, Chile, Australia and Germany, among others. Der Spiegel magazine reported on Wednesday that a study commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference had revealed that 1,670 clerics and priests had sexually abused 3,677 minors, mostly males, in Germany over a 70-year period. In the United States, a Grand Jury has found that 301 priests in the state of Pennsylvania sexually abused minors over a similar period. Francis meets on Thursday with US Church leaders to discuss that report as well as a scandal involving a former American cardinal and demands from an Italian archbishop, Carlo Maria Viganò, that the pontiff step down over that case. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the US bishops' conference, asked for the meeting after Viganò last month accused the pope of knowing for years about sexual misconduct by former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick and doing nothing about it.. Viganò said he had told Francis soon after the pontiff's election in 2013 that McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington D.C., had engaged in sexual misconduct with adult male seminarians. McCarrick resigned in July over separate allegations – which US Church officials said were "credible and substantiated" – that he had abused a 16-year-old boy almost 50 years ago. McCarrick, whom the pope ordered to live a life of seclusion and penitence, has said he has "absolutely no recollection" of such an incident. He has not commented on the allegations of misconduct with the adult seminarians. Hours after Viganò's statement was published, Francis told reporters that he would "not say a word" about it because it "speaks for itself". However, the Vatican is now preparing a response. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who succeeded McCarrick as archbishop of Washington D.C., told priests on Tuesday that he would travel to Rome to discuss his future with the pope. Wuerl, 77, who was bishop of Pittsburgh between 1988 and 2006, has been under scrutiny over his handling of sexual abuse cases during the period addressed by the Pennsylvania Grand Jury. Wuerl has defended his overall record in Pittsburgh, but has also been accused of knowing about sexual misconduct by McCarrick, which he denies.
Pope to meet US bishops Thursday over abuse scandal
VATICAN CITY (AP) — With the Catholic Church in crisis once again over clerical sex abuse and cover-up, Pope Francis will meet Thursday with U.S. cardinals and bishops who are demanding to know how one of their own was able to climb the clerical ranks despite allegations that he slept with seminarians.
The Latest: Sex abuse: Pope to meet Thursday with US bishops
Pope urges bishops to fight abuse, clerical culture behind it
Pope Francis on Saturday urged newly-ordained bishops to fight abuse and reject what he termed the “clerical” culture which has seen a series of sex abuse scandals rock the Catholic Church. Just say no to abuse, of power, conscience or any type means saying no forcefully to all forms of clericalism,” the Argentinian pontiff told 74 new bishops, the bulk hailing from Africa. The group were attending a two-week seminar on how to lead their respective dioceses as the Church attempts to react to paedophilia scandals which have left the Vatican reeling and the pope accused of being party to a high-level cover-up.