Ex-Pope Benedict blames hippies for clerical sex abuse

Ex-Pope Benedict XVI says the sexual revolution of the 1960s is to answer for child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. The former pope wrote in an essay that "absence of God" was behind acts of pedophilia. Former Pope Benedict XVI has blamed the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal on the 1960s sexual revolution, growing secularization and weak church laws that protected priests in an essay published Thursday.

https://www.dw.com/en/ex-pope-benedict-blames-hippies-for-clerical-sex-abuse/a-48294635 

Ex-pope Benedict blames Church sex abuse crisis on 1960s sexual revolution

Former pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, April 11, blamed the Catholic clerical sex abuse scandals on the 1960s sexual revolution and a collapse in faith in the West, immediately drawing criticism from some theologians. The ex-pontiff, who retired in 2013 and chose to be known thereafter as "pope emeritus", said responsibility for the crises rocking the Roman Catholic Church globally from Australia to Europe lay with the fight for an "all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer admitted any norms".

https://www.rappler.com/world/global-affairs/227994-ex-pope-benedict-blames-church-sex-abuse-crisis-1960s-sexual-revolution 

Benedict said what Vatican abuse summit dared not: ‘Homosexual cliques’ ruined seminaries

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said what prelates at the Vatican’s recent summit on clergy sexual abuse dared not say: Homosexual cliques “significantly changed the climate in the seminaries.” Benedict’s essay has broken the hierarchy’s seemingly impenetrable wall of silence regarding the major source of the Church’s sexual misconduct and cover-up problem.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/benedict-said-what-vatican-abuse-summit-dared-not-homosexual-cliques-ruined-seminaries 

Catholic Cardinals Starting to Feel the Heat

In the wake of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s conviction for failing to report a known pedophile priest to police, the princes of the Catholic Church are under increasing scrutiny. Cardinal George Pell of Australia and the Vatican’s chief financial officer has been found guilty on charges that he molested children decades ago. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been kicked out of the priesthood.

https://losangeles.legalexaminer.com/legal/catholic-cardinals-starting-to-feel-the-heat/ 

Sioux Falls bishop releases list of 11 Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse of children

Three men are suing the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, alleging that a priest molested them as children and that the diocese covered up the abuse and frequently reassigned the priest. The men allege in their lawsuits that they were 12 or 13 in the 1970s and 1980s when they met the Rev. James Grear at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where he celebrated Mass in the suburban Indianapolis community of Carmel.

http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/20190326/lafayette-diocese-sued-for-alleged-cover-up

Lafayette diocese sued for alleged cover-up

Three men are suing the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, alleging that a priest molested them as children and that the diocese covered up the abuse and frequently reassigned the priest. The men allege in their lawsuits that they were 12 or 13 in the 1970s and 1980s when they met the Rev. James Grear at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where he celebrated Mass in the suburban Indianapolis community of Carmel.

http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/20190326/lafayette-diocese-sued-for-alleged-cover-up 

Editorial: Church policy on funerals fits a long pattern of concealment

Was it sensitivity to the victims of sexual abuse or another slap in their faces? The history of the Catholic Church and the Buffalo Diocese practically shouts the latter. And if it wasn’t, then it’s at least a lesson in the price of holding terrible secrets. The question is how the local church went about acknowledging the deaths of priests credibly accused of molesting children

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/26/editorial-church-policy-on-funerals-fits-a-long-pattern-of-concealment/ 

Battling Catholic corruption: Local priest reflects on abuse in the church

Accusations of sexual abuse have rocked the Catholic church since 2002. In August 2018, the scandal intensified following an investigation in Pennsylvania that found more than 300 priests accused of child sexual abuse — leaving at least 1,000 survivors.

https://thedmonline.com/catholic-priest-localization/ 

Intercourse abuse convictions of Australia cardinal show polarizing

MELBOURNE, Australia – The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse will be sentenced to prison on Wednesday in an Australia landmark case that has polarized observers. Some described the prosecution as proof the church is no longer above the law, while others suspect Cardinal George Pell has been made a scapegoat for the church’s sins.

https://infosurhoy.com/cocoon/saii/xhtml/en_GB/news-summary/intercourse-abuse-convictions-of-australia-cardinal-show-polarizing/ 

28 priests, brothers credibly accused in Kansas diocese

Allegations of clergy sexual abuse have been substantiated against 28 priests or religious clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina in central Kansas in cases mostly stemming from the 1950s and '60s, according to investigations by church officials.

https://www.koamnewsnow.com/news/28-priests-brothers-credibly-accused-in-kansas-diocese/1064073271 

Indian priest sentenced to 6 years in prison for sexually abusing minor

New York, Mar 30(Agencies): A 38-year-old Indian former Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing a minor girl in the US. The accused has been identified as John Praveen, 38, who pleaded guilty in February to sexually touching a 13-year-old girl in the Rapid City church, South Dakota over her clothes last year.

https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=574789 

Former Archbishop Pell convicted

George Pell, a high-ranking cardinal at the Vatican and a major figure in Australian politics during the late 90s, has been convicted of the sexual abuse of two boys in 1996. He received a sentence of only 6 years, and can be released in less than 4 with parole. These were by no means the first or only allegations against him, and a trial on another matter was due to go before the courts this month until a key complainant died in January.

https://thesocialist.org.au/former-archbishop-pell-convicted/ 

'Spiritual combat' must be part of fight against sex abuse, pope says

o fight clerical sexual abuse, the Catholic Church must have clear laws and procedures, but it also must engage in "spiritual combat," because it is obvious the devil is at work, Pope Francis said. After the Vatican summit on abuse in February, the pope said, he read a newspaper article that said he had "washed his hands and blamed the devil" for the abuse crisis.

https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2019/spiritual-combat-must-be-part-of-fight-against-sex-abuse-pope-says.cfm 

Pell Case Reminds the World Why Cardinals Wear Red

“This is what the red color of their habits means: the color of blood and love.” —Pope Benedict XVI Lent is a time in which we relive spiritually the events of Jesus’ sham trials for the crimes of blasphemy and sedition and his crucifixion. It’s also a time in which we ponder his words from the Last Supper, “No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

https://catholiccitizens.org/views/85905/pell-case-reminds-the-world-why-cardinals-wear-red/ 

A Secret Database of Child Abuse

A former Jehovah's Witness is using stolen documents to expose allegations that the religion has kept hidden for decades. In March 1997, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the nonprofit organization that oversees the Jehovah’s Witnesses, sent a letter to each of its 10,883 U.S. congregations, and to many more congregations worldwide.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/03/the-secret-jehovahs-witness-database-of-child-molesters/584311/