A Wisconsin bishop has joined the president of the U.S. Bishops Conference in calling for an investigation into “credible allegations” of grave misconduct by a series of high-ranking Catholic prelates, including Pope Francis in dealing with sex abuse.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has downplayed bombshell allegations that Pope Francis knowingly rehabilitated an abusive American cardinal, saying the pope has a “bigger agenda” to worry about, such as protecting the environment and migrants.
Cardinal Blase Cupich released a statement Sunday expressing astonishment over recent allegations that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was behind his appointment as archbishop of Chicago.
In a bombshell report, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States has accused Pope Francis of reinstating Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to a position of prominence despite knowing of McCarrick’s sexual abuse of priests, seminarians, and laypeople, including minors.
Pope Francis once more condemned clerical sex abuse Saturday, as well as the “failure of ecclesiastical authorities” to adequately address what he called “repellent crimes.”
As a number of priests and bishops denounce the homosexual culture at the root of recent clerical sex scandals, Jesuit Father James Martin addressed the World Meeting of Families in Dublin on Thursday, urging greater “openness and respect” toward gays.
South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier has decried media spins on the current clerical sex abuse crisis, declaring that the scandal is rooted in same-sex activity by predatory priests.
Pennsylvania Bishop Lawrence T. Persico has called for “complete transparency” in investigating the latest clerical sex abuse scandals, noting late last week that regaining lost trust entails ousting bishops who failed to deal effectively with abuse.
“It is time to admit that there is a homosexual subculture within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that is wreaking great devastation in the vineyard of the Lord,” writes Madison Bishop Robert C. Morlino on Saturday in a sharply worded letter to the faithful.
More than 700 educators and Catholic lay leaders have written an open letter urging the United States bishops to tender their collective resignation to Pope Francis in the wake of a string of scandals related to clerical sex abuse.
The Vatican issued a statement Thursday in response to a Pennsylvania grand jury report on clerical sex abuse, expressing “shame” and “sorrow” over the report’s findings.
The leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement Tuesday in response to a report by the Pennsylvania grand jury on clerical sex abuse.
The bishop of Albany, NY, has criticized proposed clerical solutions to the recent revelations of sex abuse reaching as high as a U.S. cardinal, insisting that the laity must be in charge of investigations.
Pope Francis said that men with “deeply rooted” homosexual tendencies or who “practice homosexual acts” should not be allowed to enter the seminary, in a meeting with the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) on Monday.
Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of alleged clerical sexual abuse, claims that in a recent meeting with Pope Francis the pontiff told him that God had made him gay and loves him the way he is.
