Search Results for: priest abuse

The Universidad de Navarra (University of Navarra) in Spain published in a presentation Friday its findings in one of the nation’s first investigations into sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church . The report released by the northern Spanish region found 58 cases of sexual abuse by Catholic institutions since 1948. Allegations of sexual [...]

Spain’s Catholic Church Sunday opened an investigation into the alleged sex abuse of over a thousand children by members of their clergy dating back 80 years. The investigation will be carried out by the Spanish Bishops Conference, headed by Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, and will look into 251 priests across 31 religious orders and 31 [...]

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on Policia Nacional Revolucionaria (Revolutionary National Police; PNR), and its director and deputy director, Oscar Callejas Valcarce and Eddy Sierra Arias, respectively, for crackdowns on peaceful pro-democracy protests. The sanctions have been imposed under the authority of Executive [...]

The Vatican updated the criminal section of its Code of Canon Law Tuesday, changing Catholic Church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority. Laypersons who hold church office can similarly be sanctioned for sex crimes. The Code of Canon Law regulates the 1.3 billion-member Catholic Church. It [...]

The Hathras gang rape in Uttar Pradesh in September 2020 saw the mutilation and eventual death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman at the hands of upper-caste men. This pattern of caste-based sexual violence reappeared shortly in the Badaun province of Uttar Pradesh, with the heinous gang rape of a middle-aged Dalit woman by an upper [...]

The Mexican Episcopal Conference announced Tuesday that the Vatican has agreed to send sex abuse investigators to Mexico City at its request. The investigators, Charles Scicluna, archbishop of Malta and deputy secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Jordi Bertomeu are scheduled to be in Mexico City from March 20 to [...]

The US State Department on Wednesday announced sanctions against 13 former Salvadorian military officials for their involvement in the 1989 killings of eight individuals. The former officials were involved in gross human rights violations when they planned and carried out the extrajudicial execution of six Jesuit priests and two others on the campus of Central [...]

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and former Bishop Michael Bransfield for knowingly employing child sexual abusers. The Diocese operates six high schools and 19 elementary schools in the state. The Diocese published a report in November that listed 18 priests who have been credibly accused of [...]

Washington, DC, Attorney General Karl Racine proposed legislation Wednesday that would include clergy in the list of mandatory reporters—people who are obligated by law to inform law enforcement of any suspected child abuse or neglect. This bill is a response to recent sexual-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. Enactment of this law will require pastors, [...]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that the identities of 11 clergy implicated in the grand jury investigation of child sexual abuse in Catholic Dioceses in Pennsylvania would not be revealed. The court, citing Article 1, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, ordered that the names of the individuals be permanently redacted on “Report 1” [...]