Abusive Priests

The detailed global report from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was the first since the body was set up by Pope Francis in 2014 to try to tackle widespread abuse within the Church.

A prominent cardinal has asked Vatican authorities to stop displaying the artwork of a Jesuit priest accused of abusing nuns and other women, to avoid a suggestion of indifference to the victims' suffering.

Two former nuns said Wednesday that a world-renowned artist priest made them take part in threesomes and watch porn so they would "grow spiritually".

Bolivian prosecutors are investigating 35 members of the Catholic Church after more than a dozen victims accused them of sexual abuse, authorities said Tuesday.

Sexual abusers are disgusting "enemies" who deserve to be condemned and punished - but also deserve Christian love and pastoral care because they too are children of God, Pope Francis said.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who came under fire in October for saying 400 cases of alleged sexual abuse by clergy members did not seem to be "particularly high", said the Church must be held accountable.

Portuguese bishops will meet on March 3 to consider implementing "more efficient and appropriate mechanisms" to prevent future abuses.

The Catholic Jesuit order, of which Pope Francis is a member, has been rocked by claims a prominent priest abused several women, a case raising questions about how the Church sanctions offenders.

The Catholic Church in Colombia has released the names of 26 priests who were investigated for alleged sexual abuse of minors there, local media reported Saturday.

At least 600 young people were documented as having been abused by Catholic priests in the German diocese of Muenster, but the actual number of victims could be 10 times higher, a report published Monday said.

A US association for victims of sexual abuse denounced Monday a former bishop in New York state who admitted to having ignored multiple sexual assaults on children committed by 11 priests over 25 years.

A New Zealand inquiry on Wednesday heard harrowing accounts from people who were abused as children while they were under the care of the Catholic Church, one of whom said he was shown a corpse in a hospital morgue by a priest to keep him quiet.

Former pope Benedict XVI knowingly failed to take action to stop four priests accused of child sex abuse in Munich in the 1980s, according to a damning independent report published Thursday that risks shattering the ex-pontiff's reputation.

A potentially explosive report into the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church will on Thursday be published in Germany, with former pope Benedict XVI among those in the spotlight.

Senior members of France's Catholic hierarchy knelt in a show of penance at the shrine of Lourdes Saturday, a day after bishops accepted the church's responsibility for decades of child abuse.

The detailed global report from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was the first since the body was set up by Pope Francis in 2014 to try to tackle widespread abuse within the Church.

A prominent cardinal has asked Vatican authorities to stop displaying the artwork of a Jesuit priest accused of abusing nuns and other women, to avoid a suggestion of indifference to the victims' suffering.

Two former nuns said Wednesday that a world-renowned artist priest made them take part in threesomes and watch porn so they would "grow spiritually".

Bolivian prosecutors are investigating 35 members of the Catholic Church after more than a dozen victims accused them of sexual abuse, authorities said Tuesday.

Sexual abusers are disgusting "enemies" who deserve to be condemned and punished - but also deserve Christian love and pastoral care because they too are children of God, Pope Francis said.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who came under fire in October for saying 400 cases of alleged sexual abuse by clergy members did not seem to be "particularly high", said the Church must be held accountable.

Portuguese bishops will meet on March 3 to consider implementing "more efficient and appropriate mechanisms" to prevent future abuses.

The Catholic Jesuit order, of which Pope Francis is a member, has been rocked by claims a prominent priest abused several women, a case raising questions about how the Church sanctions offenders.

The Catholic Church in Colombia has released the names of 26 priests who were investigated for alleged sexual abuse of minors there, local media reported Saturday.

At least 600 young people were documented as having been abused by Catholic priests in the German diocese of Muenster, but the actual number of victims could be 10 times higher, a report published Monday said.

A US association for victims of sexual abuse denounced Monday a former bishop in New York state who admitted to having ignored multiple sexual assaults on children committed by 11 priests over 25 years.

A New Zealand inquiry on Wednesday heard harrowing accounts from people who were abused as children while they were under the care of the Catholic Church, one of whom said he was shown a corpse in a hospital morgue by a priest to keep him quiet.

Former pope Benedict XVI knowingly failed to take action to stop four priests accused of child sex abuse in Munich in the 1980s, according to a damning independent report published Thursday that risks shattering the ex-pontiff's reputation.

A potentially explosive report into the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church will on Thursday be published in Germany, with former pope Benedict XVI among those in the spotlight.

Senior members of France's Catholic hierarchy knelt in a show of penance at the shrine of Lourdes Saturday, a day after bishops accepted the church's responsibility for decades of child abuse.