Church Sexual Abuse

Pope Francis said Friday that the Catholic Church must "seek forgiveness" over the "scourge" of child sexual abuse, during a visit to Belgium where the Church's dark past looms large.

The Catholic Church is to pay 104 million Canadian dollars ($76 million) to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse from eastern Canada, according to a statement released Friday.

A church leader told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Gray had confessed during a counselling session in 2023 that "the relationship was sexual."

Portugal's Catholic Church said on Thursday it will financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse within the Church, setting the amounts to be paid on a case-by-case basis, an approach survivors' groups have criticised.

Nashua Baptist Church officials terminated a well-liked pastor upon discovering that he was under investigation for the sexual abuse of minors.

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

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.

Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said on Monday after hearing hundreds of victims' accounts.

Former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives.

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 must show "zero tolerance" to sexual assault by members of the clergy, Pope Francis said in excerpts of an interview with a Portuguese television channel broadcast Sunday.

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.

Pope Francis on Thursday asked for forgiveness for sexual abuse at Canadian schools for indigenous children run by Catholic orders, addressing a deep wound that many survivors wanted him to acknowledge during his apology tour in Canada.

The head of a Mexico-based evangelical megachurch that claims about 5 million followers worldwide pleaded guilty on Friday to felony counts of sexually abusing three children, California state prosecutors announced on Friday.

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.

Pope Francis said Friday that the Catholic Church must "seek forgiveness" over the "scourge" of child sexual abuse, during a visit to Belgium where the Church's dark past looms large.

The Catholic Church is to pay 104 million Canadian dollars ($76 million) to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse from eastern Canada, according to a statement released Friday.

A church leader told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Gray had confessed during a counselling session in 2023 that "the relationship was sexual."

Portugal's Catholic Church said on Thursday it will financially compensate victims of child sexual abuse within the Church, setting the amounts to be paid on a case-by-case basis, an approach survivors' groups have criticised.

Nashua Baptist Church officials terminated a well-liked pastor upon discovering that he was under investigation for the sexual abuse of minors.

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

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.

Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said on Monday after hearing hundreds of victims' accounts.

Former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives.

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 must show "zero tolerance" to sexual assault by members of the clergy, Pope Francis said in excerpts of an interview with a Portuguese television channel broadcast Sunday.

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.

Pope Francis on Thursday asked for forgiveness for sexual abuse at Canadian schools for indigenous children run by Catholic orders, addressing a deep wound that many survivors wanted him to acknowledge during his apology tour in Canada.

The head of a Mexico-based evangelical megachurch that claims about 5 million followers worldwide pleaded guilty on Friday to felony counts of sexually abusing three children, California state prosecutors announced on Friday.

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.