priest sex abuse

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Pope Hailed as 'Unfailing' Leader at Easter Mass

Pontiff keeps his silence on sex abuse scandals

(Newser) - A senior cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI from "petty gossip" today, praising his "unfailing" leadership, even as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting accusations of sex abuse cover-ups during his Easter message. At the end of the two-hour long ceremony, a weary-looking Benedict delivered the papacy's traditional...

Pope Waited Years to Defrock Ariz. Priest

Ratzinger's actions as cardinal under new scrutiny

(Newser) - The abuse cases of two Arizona priests cast further doubt on whether Pope Benedict XVI shielded pedophiles as a cardinal. Then Cardinal Ratzinger took over the abuse case of Rev. Michael Teta, then let it languish at the Vatican for a dozen years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for...

Church Sex Abuse Fallout Compared to Anti-Semitism

Pope Benedict's personal preacher defends pontiff against attacks

(Newser) - A high-level Vatican official who serves as preacher to the papal household is under fire for saying in his Good Friday homily that criticism of the way the pontiff has handled the child sex abuse scandal is comparable to "the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism." The Rev. Raniero...

Vatican Told of Abuse in 1963

US priest wrote Pope Paul VI urging defrocking of 'problem priests'

(Newser) - A letter sent to Pope Paul VI in 1963 surfaced yesterday, and its contents suggest that the Vatican was aware of the sexual abuse problems happening in the US Catholic Church nearly five decades ago. Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald wrote the letter, which was made public by lawyers representing alleged abuse...

US Bishops Returning Accused Priests to Ministry

With sex abuse scandal behind them, some slide back into ministry

(Newser) - The Catholic Church’s official policy is that any priest credibly accused of sexual abuse will be removed from ministry, but the definition of “credibly accused” seems like a loose one. US bishops have been quietly reinstating accused priests in the decade since this country's abuse scandal, NPR reports....

Vatican: Pope Deserves Praise, Not Scorn

Cardinal criticizes New York Times, defends pontiff

(Newser) - The Vatican defended Pope Benedict's handling of long-ago abuse cases, lashed out at the New York Times for coverage “deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness,” and said the pontiff actually deserved praise instead of condemnation. “We owe Pope Benedict a great debt of gratitude for introducing...

Vatican Tries to Shield Pope from Lawsuit

Offers 3 reasons he isn't responsible for abuse, and can't testify

(Newser) - The Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer questions under oath about clerical sex abuse. Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw...

Get Lost, Benedict, We Need a Woman for the Job

Pope is hopelessly tainted, and it's time for a nun to right the church

(Newser) - Maureen Dowd continues her rant on the scandal-ridden Catholic patriarchy for a second Sunday, calling for Pope Benedict to "go home to Bavaria," while the church gets itself a "nope"—"a nun who is pope." Dowd isn't buying claims that the "sin-crazed 'Rottweiler'...

Scandal Swirls as Pope Opens Holy Week

Vatican digs in, insists Benedict acted appropriately

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI has opened the church's solemn Holy Week amid increasing questions about his own handling of priest sex abuse cases. Benedict's procession entered St. Peter's Square today at the start of Palm Sunday Mass. The pontiff, in crimson and golden vestments, waved to the throngs of faithful waving...

Priest on Sex Abuse: 'I Went Too Far'

German blames lack of supervision, 'proximity to pupils'

(Newser) - As a wave of sex abuse threatens to engulf Pope Benedict's papacy, a German priest "granted leave" a month ago takes the issue head on: "I know that I had some contact with pupils where I went too far, and which I do not approve of today."...

Pope Hasn't Begun to Apologize for Irish Abuse
 Pope Hasn't Begun to 
 Apologize for Irish Abuse 
SINEAD O'CONNOR
Mar 26, 2010 11:50 AM CDT

Pope Hasn't Begun to Apologize for Irish Abuse

Now do you understand why she ripped up that picture in 1992?

(Newser) - “Almost 18 years ago, I tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on an episode of Saturday Night Live,” Sinead O’Connor writes. She explains that she wasn't anti-religion but had a deep problem with how the church treated Irish Catholics. Then, “people did not...

Pope Knew of US Deaf Boys' Sex Abuse, Did Nothing

Priest linked to hundreds of cases never disciplined

(Newser) - Pope Benedict knew of the suspected abuse of hundreds of deaf Wisconsin boys by a renegade priest yet the Vatican office he headed as cardinal halted a process to remove the man from the priesthood. A local archbishop wrote a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1996 pleading that Father...

Benedict to Ireland's Pedophile Priests: Submit Yourselves

In letter, pontiff apologizes to victims, blasts bishops, opens inquiry

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI rebuked Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgment" in handling clerical sex abuse and ordered a Vatican investigation into the Irish church to wipe out the scourge. Benedict used his harshest words for the abusers themselves: "Conceal nothing," he exhorted them today in a...

Pope Benedict's Enemies Are Twisting Facts
Pope Benedict's Enemies
Are Twisting Facts
OPINION
Mar 19, 2010 11:07 AM CDT

Pope Benedict's Enemies Are Twisting Facts

Pontiff didn't allow a pedophile to serve as a priest

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI is taking an unfair beating in the world press, writes Damian Thompson. Headlines to the contrary, the then-archbishop of Munich "did not allow a priest he knew to be a pedophile to continue in ministry." He did permit the priest to receive counseling, and that...

Priest, 82, Filmed Having Sex with Altar Boy

Sex scandals rocks Brazilian church

(Newser) - In the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church, a Brazilian priest has been removed from his post after a video of him having sex with a 19-year-old altar boy surfaced. Father Luiz Marques Barbosa, 82, was filmed with a hidden camera by a 21-year-old who alleges he was abused...

Cardinal: Maybe Celibacy's Not Such a Great Idea

Vatican 'needs to look into source of sex scandals'

(Newser) - The Catholic church needs to take a long hard look at its celibacy policy in the wake of its seemingly endless sex scandals, an influential cardinal says. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, the archbishop of Vienna, wrote in his archdiocese magazine last week that the Vatican should carry out an "unflinching...

Jon Stewart Slams the Vatican
 Jon Stewart Slams the Vatican 
Mar 17, 2010 7:53 AM CDT

Jon Stewart Slams the Vatican

Catholic Church quick to punish sinners ... just not priests

(Newser) - Jon Stewart ’s latest victim: the Catholic Church. Stewart is unhappy about a few things, among them: the cover-up of a gay sex ring, the pope’s protection of a pedophile priest, and the suspension of two Catholic school students for having lesbian parents. The church is swift,...

German Priest in Sex Abuse Case Suspended

Peter Hullermann convicted in 1986, but continued to serve

(Newser) - When Pope Benedict was Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, he transferred Peter Hullermann to a different diocese in Germany after the priest was accused of sexually molesting young boys. Six years later, in 1986, Hullermann was convicted of sexual abuse but received a suspended sentence and continued in the priesthood—and working...

As Abuse Scandal Nears Pope, Vatican Fires Back

But sex-abuse cases 'growing every day' in Germany

(Newser) - A day after high-level Catholic officials admitted that "serious mistakes" were made in handling a sex abuse case in the German diocese where Pope Benedict XVI was then archbishop, the Vatican came out swinging in defense of the embattled pontiff. Benedict, as the Vatican's cardinal in charge of sex-abuse...

Pope's Brother: I Overlooked Choir Abuse

Georg Ratzinger also admits to slapping students in the face

(Newser) - Pope Benedict’s brother today revealed that he used to slap pupils in the face at the Catholic school in Germany whose prestigious choir he led, and that he’d ignored allegations of more serious physical abuses. “Pupils told me about what went on,” Georg Ratzinger said in...

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