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Church defrocks Chilean priest for child sex abuse

Agence France-PresseMay 15, 2013 01:01
A Chilean priest has been defrocked by his order for allegedly sexually abusing two minors, the country's Roman Catholic church said Tuesday. The church had investigated the allegations against the priest, Hector Valdes, in 2008, but a new probe was ordered four years later by the archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati. The second investigation found Valdes "guilty of the crime of sexually abusing two minors, and abuse of his ministry," the church said in a statement. Valdes "is hereby removed for life from exercising priestly ministry and the religious life," it said.

'Systemic' sex abuse at elite NY school

Agence France-PresseApril 26, 2013 18:15
Students at one of America's most prestigious schools were abused by pedophile teachers for more than three decades but prosecutors are unable to file charges because the crimes happened too long ago, officials in New York said Friday. The Bronx District Attorney's Office said in a statement police had uncovered evidence of "systemic" abuse of pupils at the famous Horace Mann School, spanning a 34-year period from from 1962 to 1996. However no charges would be filed because of New York State's statute of limitations laws.

Pope seeks decisive action against sex abuse

April 9, 2013 10:03
Pope Francis directed the Vatican yesterday to act decisively on clergy sex abuse cases and take measures against pedophile priests, saying the Catholic Church's ‘credibility’ was on the line. The announcement was quickly dismissed by victims' advocates as just more talk. Clergy abuse victims have called for swift and bold action from Francis as soon as he was elected pope last month. Yet in his homeland, Roman Catholic activists had characterized him as being slow to act against such abuse in his years heading the Argentine church. The clergy child abuse scandals i

Australia launches national child sex abuse inquiry

April 2, 2013 23:15
Australia opened a national probe into child sex abuse on Wednesday, with premier Julia Gillard warning of "uncomfortable truths" as institutions including schools and churches come under scrutiny. Gillard ordered the inquiry in November after a decade of growing pressure to investigate widespread allegations of paedophilia, two months after the Catholic Church in Victoria revealed hundreds of children had been abused.

Paedophilia 'not a criminal condition': S. Africa cardinal

March 16, 2013 08:30
A South African cardinal who helped elect Pope Francis said on Saturday that paedophilia is a psychological illness, not "a criminal condition". Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, the Archbishop of Durban, told BBC radio that people who become paedophiles after being abused as children should be treated by doctors. His comments come as Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, takes the helm of a Catholic Church rocked by thousands of cases of child abuse by paedophile priests.

US church agrees abuse payout, as cardinal in Rome

March 14, 2013 14:31
The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to four men who alleged they were molested by a former priest in the 1970s, their lawyers said Tuesday. LA's Cardinal Roger Mahony -- currently taking part in the Vatican conclave to choose a new pope, despite protests from victims -- approved the deal this month, with lawyers for the men and the former priest involved, they said.

Child sex abuse victim says Ireland did not protect her

March 6, 2013 13:16
Children who suffered sexual abuse in Ireland's Catholic schools during the 1970s failed to receive sufficient protection from the state, one of the victims told the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday. Louise O'Keeffe, 46, is suing the Irish state after suffering repeated abuse by a former principal of the Dunderrow primary school in Cork, southwestern Ireland, in 1973, when she was eight. O'Keeffe argues that the Irish state should take the blame for the abuse since it failed to implement reporting measures to prevent and stop the crimes.

Paedophilia scandals weigh on body to elect next pope

February 19, 2013 23:00
Activists fighting for truth and justice for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests hold out little hope for progress under the next pope as controversy brews over a US cardinal who covered up for predator clerics. A Catholic association has asked retired Los Angeles archbishop Roger Mahony to stay away from next month's conclave after he was stripped of all public duties for mishandling claims against dozens of priests.

CORRECTED-U.N. body says U.S. lax on clerical sex abuse cases

February 18, 2013 14:00
(Corrects name in ninth para to from Porteous Ward to Porteous Wood) * Report says U.S. drags feet on clerical child abuse cases * Urges U.S. legal authorities to step up prosecutions * Secular group says secrecy protects priests from the law By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

Australian victims' group 'welcomes pope's resignation'

February 11, 2013 11:31
An Australian group representing the victims of sexual abuse has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, saying he had done little to stop "the reign of terror of child rapist priests", a report said. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued a statement calling for the next pontiff to be more cooperative with inquiries into abuse claims, according to a report by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).
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