A Vatican court found a former president of the Vatican bank guilty of embezzlement and money laundering during the pontificates of St. John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI, closing a chapter in the long-term cleanup of its finances. The court said that Angelo Caloia and his lawyer, Gabriele Liuzzo, had manipulated sales of the scandal-plagued … Read more
Pope Francis ended 2019 in embarrassment when he angrily slapped the hand of a woman who had pulled on his own while he was greeting pilgrims on New Year’s Eve. He began 2020 with a public apology for losing his patience and setting a “bad example.” It was a fitting coda to a year in … Read more
A movement that believes in sin, penance and salvation doesn’t sound very scientific. It’s been noted before that the cause of addressing climate change has become something like the modern world’s version of a secular religion. In much of Europe especially, but in sections of American society too, a kind of climate theology has replaced … Read more
An international network of financial watchdogs has suspended the Vatican’s access to its information, dealing a major blow to the Vatican’s financial credibility under Pope Francis. The Egmont Group, a Toronto-based network of more than 160 national financial intelligence units around the world, has decided to suspend the Vatican watchdog from access to its secure … Read more
New state laws encouraging child sex-abuse victims to come forward are expected to spur a wave of lawsuits against insurance companies. Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., have laws going into effect this year that extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex-abuse claims against alleged abusers or the institutions they were affiliated with, … Read more
One woman alleged that an elementary-school teacher repeatedly put his hand up her skirt while hidden behind a chalkboard, sometimes hitting her with a plastic bat. A man accused a social-service worker tasked with driving him to court of abusing him in a car. Another man claimed that while he was hospitalized at age 7, … Read more
A potential flood of lawsuits has spurred the Catholic Church to offer mediation, only if accusers agree not to sue Four decades ago, Jimmy Pliska says, he was sexually assaulted by his local parish priest on an overnight fishing trip. Now, he has an agonizing decision to make. Amid a recent wave of sexual-abuse investigations … Read more
On Monday, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston announced the resignations of Monsignors Anthony Cincinnati and Kevin Quirk. A third priest, Frederick Annie, resigned in September, it said. The diocese didn’t give a reason for the moves. “Archbishop Lori has and continues to make a number of decisions and changes for the good of the local Church, … Read more
An archbishop in Guam who was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors by a Vatican court and permanently removed from his post remains a priest with the rank of archbishop, underscoring wide inconsistencies in the Catholic Church’s approach to abuse around the world. The sentence, in the latest abuse case involving senior Catholic hierarchy, … Read more
Bishops have failed to police themselves. It’s time for the laity to step up. More than 15 years after Americans learned of gross abuse of children by Catholic priests, this week the Vatican hosts its first-ever summit on the “protection of minors.” For four days bishops from across the world will hear victims’ testimony and … Read more