VATICAN CITY – At the start of the Vatican’s sex-abuse summit Thursday, Pope Francis pointed to expectations for the meeting to produce responsibility and concrete action, not just denunciations of abuse.
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has released the schedule, speakers, and a new website for this week’s much-anticipated sex-abuse summit, which will focus on episcopal transparency and accountability for the protection of minors.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered this week the laicization of Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Catholic bishops from across the United States will begin the new year taking part in a seven-day spiritual retreat at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, January 2–8, 2019. Capuchin Friar Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household, will direct the retreat on the theme “He appointed Twelve, to be with Him and to Send Out to Preach,” taken from the Gospel of Mark.
VATICAN CITY – Organizers of the Vatican’s February meeting on sexual abuse have sent a letter to the participating bishops asking them to meet with abuse victims in advance of the gathering.
SYDNEY, Australia – Cardinal George Pell has been convicted by an Australian court on charges of sexual abuse of minors, according to media reports and sources close to the cardinal.
SEATTLE – The Archdiocese of Seattle has agreed to pay $2.05 million to settle five cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by Edward Courtney, who was a member of the Christian Brothers religious order; one of the cases involved allegations of sexual abuse by Gerard Kealy, who was also a member of the Christian Brothers. The alleged abuse occurred between the late 1970s and the early 1980s.
SEATTLE – Shortly after the public sessions of the U.S. bishops’ annual Fall General Assembly adjourned Wednesday evening in Baltimore, the bishops of the Archdiocese of Seattle reported their reflections on the week in an email to Northwest Catholic.