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catholic church sex abuse
Vatican Sanctions Belgian Bishop Who Abused Nephew
By not in system - AOL NewsVATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has sanctioned a Belgian bishop who resigned last year after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew, saying he can no longer act as a priest in public and may risk further church sanctions. The Vatican on Tuesday clarified the punishment against the former Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe after Belgian bishops reported over the weekend that he had merely been sent outside Belgium for spiritual and psychological counseling, a seemingly cushy punishment given the seriousness of the crime. Peter Maenhoudt, AP Bishop Roger Vangheluwe seen in Bruges, ...
Philadelphia Cardinal's Apology Not Enough, Advocates Say
By Dana Kennedy - AOL NewsAs Philadelphia-area parishioners began to learn the names of the 21 Catholic priests suspended in connection with alleged child sexual abuse, advocates for victims criticized the archbishop's plea for forgiveness and handling of the scandal. Cardinal Justin Rigali asked a capacity crowd at Philadelphia's Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Ash Wednesday for "forgiveness of all those whom we have offended in any way" and added that the church is re-evaluating how it handles abuse allegations, CNN reported. Matt Rourke, AP Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of ...
Philadelphia Archdiocese Accused of Covering Up Sex Abuse [VIDEO]
By not in system - AOL News...
Philadelphia Archdiocese Suspends 3 Accused Priests
By Mara Gay - AOL NewsThe Philadelphia Archdiocese has placed three priests on leave and ordered the re-examination of cases involving more than 30 other priests amid allegations of child sex abuse detailed in a grand jury report. "Many people of faith and in the community at large think that the archdiocese does not understand the gravity of child sexual abuse," Cardinal Justin Rigali of the Philadelphia Archdiocese said in a statement to reporters. "We do. The task before us now is to recognize where we have fallen short and to let our actions speak to our resolve." The cardinal said the Revs. Joseph ...
Vatican: Letter to Ireland's Bishops on Abuse Was Misunderstood
By not in system - AOL NewsVATICAN CITY -- The Vatican says a letter warning Irish bishops against reporting sexual abuse of children to police has been misunderstood. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that with its 1997 letter, the Vatican wanted to ensure that Irish bishops follow church law precisely so that pedophile priests would not have any technical grounds to escape church punishment. Lombardi issued the statement Wednesday after The Associated Press reported that the letter from the Holy See's top diplomat in Ireland told bishops that their "mandatory reporting" of abuse policy "gives ...
Son of Hitler's Deputy Bormann Accused of Child Sex Abuse
By Theunis Bates - AOL NewsMartin Bormann Jr., the eldest son of Adolf Hitler's deputy Martin Bormann, has spent decades attempting to atone for his father's sins. He has served as a priest and a Catholic missionary and has lectured in Germany, Austria and Israel on the horrors of the Holocaust. But Bormann Jr.'s almost saintly reputation is now threatened after he was accused of violently and sexually assaulting young pupils while serving as a teacher at an elite Austrian boarding school in the 1960s. Bormann Jr. has denied any knowledge of the events. The allegations -- the latest in a flurry of sex abuse charges ...
Pope Benedict: Church Must Reflect on Sex Abuse Scandals
By Theunis Bates - AOL NewsPope Benedict XVI today called on Vatican officials to examine why the Catholic Church allowed the sexual abuse of children by priests to continue unchallenged for so long, and to push through reforms to ensure such scandals never happen again. "We must ask ourselves what we can do to repair as much as possible the injustice that has occurred," the pope said in his traditional end-of-year speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops. "We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen." Over the past year, the ...
In UK Visit, Pope Admits Failures Over Sex Abuse
By Lauren Frayer - AOL News(Sept. 16) -- Before he landed today in Britain for a historic first-ever state visit, Pope Benedict XVI delivered his harshest comments yet about the Catholic Church's response to sex abuse, admitting that the hierarchy failed to act decisively against priests who rape or molest children. The pope acknowledged that "the authority of the church was not sufficiently vigilant and not sufficiently swift and decisive" against abusers. "I must say that these revelations were a shock for me, a great sadness," he said. Benedict also said the church's "first interest is the victims" rather than its ...
Pope Visits UK, Admits Failures in Abuse Scandal
By not in system - AOL NewsEDINBURGH, Scotland (Sept. 16) -- Pope Benedict XVI, beginning a controversial state visit to Britain, acknowledged Thursday that the Catholic Church failed to act decisively or quickly enough to deal with priests who rape and molest children and said the church's top priority now was to help the victims. The pope's comments to reporters traveling with him from Rome marked his most thorough admission to date of church failures to deal with the sex abuse scandal. The issue has reignited with the recent revelations in Belgium of hundreds of new victims, at least 13 of whom committed ...
Mel Gibson as Metaphor for What Ails America
By Delia Lloyd - Politics DailyOK. Here's my guilty summer confession: I can't get enough of the Mel Gibson scandal. Let me preface this post by saying that I'm hardly one for celebrity gossip. I have no idea who Justin Bieber is. I don't care whether Jennifer Aniston wants kids or not. And despite former Politics Daily colleague Emily Miller's compelling argument for why we should all be taking The National Enquirer more seriously, I can't stomach tabloids. Still, when it comes to the ongoing Mel Gibson saga, I can't look away. And I suspect I'm not alone. And that's because Gibson embodies a whole bunch of different ...
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