Catholic Church sexual abuse cases

Theodore McCarrick (born 1930), ordered in 2018 by Pope Francis to a life of prayer and penance.[1] Found guilty of sexual crimes against adults and minors and abuse of power, he was dismissed from the clergy in February 2019.[2] He is the most senior church official in modern times to be laicized and is the first cardinal laicized for sexual misconduct.
Pope Francis making a speech in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (2018). The Catholic Church in Chile in 2018 suffered one of the worst of the worldwide Catholic sexual abuse cases, including the Fernando Karadima case, resulting in several convictions and resignations.

There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgement and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up.[3] The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14.[4][5][6][7] Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s.[8] Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.[9][10]

By the 1990s, the cases began to receive significant media and public attention in several countries, including in Canada, United States, Chile, Australia, Ireland, and much of Europe and South America.[11][12][13] Pope John Paul II was criticised by representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse for failing to respond quickly enough to the Catholic sex abuse crisis.[14] After decades of inaction, Sinéad O'Connor brought the scandal to a head when she tore up a photo of John Paul II on a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live. The protest drew praise from critics of the church but also the ire of many Catholics, which greatly damaged her career and had a strong possibility of putting her life in danger. Her protest would see increased positive reappraisal as corruption and suppression efforts by the church related to abuse became more popularly known.

In 2002, an investigation by The Boston Globe, which later inspired the film Spotlight, led to widespread media coverage of the issue in the United States. Widespread abuse has also been exposed in Europe, Australia, and Chile, reflecting worldwide patterns of long-term abuse as well as the Church hierarchy's pattern of regularly covering up reports of abuse.[note 1]

From 2001 to 2010, the Holy See examined sex abuse cases involving about 3,000 priests, some of which dated back fifty years.[15] Diocesan officials and academics knowledgeable about the Catholic Church say that sexual abuse by clergy is generally not discussed, and thus is difficult to measure.[16] Members of the Church's hierarchy have argued that media coverage was excessive and disproportionate, and that such abuse also takes place in other religions and institutions, a stance that dismayed representatives from other religions who saw it as a device to distance the Church from controversy.[17]

In a 2001 apology, John Paul II called sexual abuse within the Church "a profound contradiction of the teaching and witness of Jesus Christ".[18] Benedict XVI apologised, met with victims, and spoke of his "shame" at the evil of abuse, calling for perpetrators to be brought to justice, and denouncing mishandling by church authorities.[19][20] In January 2018, referring to a particular case in Chile, Pope Francis accused victims of fabricating allegations;[21] by April, he was apologizing for his "tragic error",[22] and by August was expressing "shame and sorrow" for the tragic history.[23] He convened a four-day summit meeting with the participation of the presidents of all the episcopal conferences of the world, which was held in Vatican City from 21 to 24 February 2019, to discuss preventing sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy.[24] In December 2019, Pope Francis made sweeping changes that allow for greater transparency.[25][26] In June 2021, a team of U.N. special rapporteurs for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) criticized the Vatican, pointing to persistent allegations that the Catholic Church had obstructed and failed to cooperate with domestic judicial proceedings in order to prevent accountability for abusers and compensation for victims.[27]

Some Christian media and institutions have alleged an anti-Catholic bias by the reporting media. A report issued by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR) in 2002 stated that contrary to popular opinion, there are more allegations of child sexual abuse in Protestant congregations than Catholic ones, and that sexual violence is most often committed by volunteers rather than by priests themselves.[28] The report also criticized the way the media reported sexual crimes, stating that the Australian media reported on sexual abuse allegations against Catholic clergy but ignored such allegations against Protestant churches.[29] Stephen Joseph Rossetti, a Catholic priest, reported that the frequency of pedophilia amongst the Catholic clergy was no higher than among the general population, although he did not give solid statistics to back it up.[30]

  1. ^ D'Emilio, Frances (28 July 2018). "US prelate McCarrick resigns from College of Cardinals". Religion News Service. Vatican City. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Comunicato della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede" [Press Release of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]. Sala Stampa della Santa Sede (Press release) (in Italian and English). Vatican City. 16 February 2019. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  3. ^ Burton, Tara Isabella (24 August 2018). "New Catholic sex abuse allegations show how long justice can take in a 16-year scandal". Vox. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  4. ^ The Associated Press (19 June 2004). "Accused priests shuffled worldwide". USA Today. Dallas, Texas: Gannett. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  5. ^ Stephens, Scott (27 May 2011). "Catholic sexual abuse study greeted with incurious contempt". ABC Religion & Ethics. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  6. ^ Lattin, Don (17 July 1998). "$30 Million Awarded Men Molested by 'Family Priest' / 3 bishops accused of Stockton coverup". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024. Attorney Jeff Anderson said the Howard brothers were repeatedly molested between 1978 and 1991, from age 3 to 13.
  7. ^ "Stoke Industrial School, Nelson (Report of Royal Commission On, Together with Correspondence, Evidence, and Appendix)". The Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 2 (Session I, E-03b). National Library of New Zealand: 6. 1900. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  8. ^ Lehner, Ulrich L. (1 March 2015). Mönche und Nonnen im Klosterkerker: Ein Verdrängtes Kapitel Kirchengeschichte [Monks and Nuns in the Monastery Dungeon: A Suppressed Chapter of Church History] (in German). Kevelaer, Germany: Topos Plus. ISBN 978-3-836-71004-6.
  9. ^ Bruni, Frank; Burkett, Elinor (1993). A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-060-52232-2. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  10. ^ The Associated Press (29 June 2010). "Sex abuse victim accuses Catholic church of fraud". USA Today. Los Angeles, California: Gannett. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  11. ^ Moore, Chris (1995). Betrayal of Trust: The Father Brendan Smyth Affair and the Catholic Church. Marino. ISBN 978-1-860-23027-1.
  12. ^ "The Pope Meets the Press: Media Coverage of the Clergy Abuse Scandal". The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The Pew Charitable Trusts. 11 June 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  13. ^ Wan, William (11 June 2010). "Study looks at media coverage of Catholic sex abuse scandal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  14. ^ Jahad, Shirley (24 April 2014). "Some victims of Catholic Church sex abuse oppose Pope John Paul II reaching sainthood". LAist. California. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  15. ^ Lewis, Aidan (4 May 2010). "Looking behind the Catholic sex abuse scandal". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  16. ^ Paulson, Michael (8 April 2002). "World doesn't share US view of scandal: Clergy sexual abuse reaches far, receives an uneven focus". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  17. ^ Butt, Riazat; Asthana, Anushka (28 September 2009). "Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican". The Guardian. London, England, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Pope sends first e-mail apology". BBC News. 23 November 2001. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Pope 'deeply sorry' for 'evil' of child abuse". ABC News. 19 July 2008. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  20. ^ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan; Squires, Nick (20 March 2010). "Pope's apology: 'You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry'". The Telegraph. London, England, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  21. ^ Associated Press in Santiago (19 January 2018). "Pope Francis accuses Chilean church sexual abuse victims of slander". The Guardian. London, England, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  22. ^ Noack, Rick (12 April 2018). "Pope admits 'grave error,' apologizes for not believing Chilean sex abuse victims". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  23. ^ Romo, Vanessa; Poggioli, Sylvia (16 August 2018). "Pope Francis Expresses 'Shame And Sorrow' Over Pennsylvania Abuse Allegations". NPR. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference McElwee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ "Pope ends 'secrecy' rule on child sexual abuse in Catholic church". The Guardian. London, England, United Kingdom. 17 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  26. ^ Gallagher, Delia (17 December 2019). "Pope lifts secrecy rules for sex abuse cases". CNN. Rome, Italy. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  27. ^ "UN experts urge Catholic Church to act against sexual abuse, provide reparations". UN Human Rights Office. Geneva, Switzerland: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 21 June 2021. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  28. ^ Clayton, Mark (5 April 2002). "Sex abuse spans spectrum of churches". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  29. ^ Henderson, Gerard (14 June 2017). "The media, the Commission and the Church". The Catholic Weekly. Sydney, Australia. Archived from the original on 16 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  30. ^ Plante, Thomas G.; Daniels, Courtney (May 2004). "The Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church: What Psychologists and Counselors Should Know" (PDF). Pastoral Psychology. 52 (5). Springer: 4–10. doi:10.1023/B:PASP.0000020686.94708.02. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024 – via Santa Clara University.


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